Take A Chance
by firefly214
Summary: AU. 22 year-old Jughead Jones is a single father of two who has just finished rebuilding his life after his young wife left him. He's finally settled into a comfortable complacency, but now he's about to take a chance on Betty Cooper. And it's about to be the best thing to happen to him.
1. Chapter 1

**So, hello everyone! It's me, back again. This time it's with the start of a full-length story and not a one-shot (yay). So this story is Bughead (obviously) and Jughead is a single dad in this, so I feel like it's pretty unique so far. So other important info to know is that this is definitely an AU and there are a few OCs (they're not really going to end up being like super main characters, though, because I don't read fanfics for the OCs). So Jughead, Betty, Archie, Veronica are all like 22. Toni is a year older than them. Jughead has 2 kids: a 4 year-old daughter named Hannah Jones and a 2 year-old son named Owen Jones. As for who their mother is, I feel like what you guys need to know right now is explained in the chapter, so... I hope you guys enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

1

"For the millionth time, no." Why did Veronica Lodge have to be so persistent? Jughead was getting sick of it very fast.

"Please?" she whined. "She would be so perfect for you, Jughead. She's-"

"An investigative journalist, I know," Jughead interrupted. "And she likes classic films and she'd get my humor. You've told me this a thousand times." Since last week, Veronica had told Jughead about her friend so many times that Jughead had her main reasons memorized.

"Just one date," Veronica pleaded.

"No," Jughead sighed again. He put his head down and pinched the bridge of his nose. If Veronica wasn't his friend's fiance, he would have a lot less patience with her unrelenting attempts to set him up.

"Please?" Veronica begged again. "Please, please, please, please, please?"

"Veronica," Jughead sighed. "I'm sure that your friend is amazing. But dating isn't really one of my top priorities. I have more important things to worry about."

"I know," Veronica sighed. "You're busy being father of the year." It seemed like Veronica was finally giving up. "But it's just one date," Nope. Jughead should've known better than to assume that Veronica would give up. "Or what about just meeting her for coffee or something?"

"Veronica," Jughead pleaded with her to just let it go.

"I just want you to be as happy as Archiekins and I are," Veronica said.

"I _am_ happy," Jughead responded, although maybe it wasn't 100% true.

"I'm not giving up until you give in," Veronica insisted.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Veronica Lodge," Jughead chuckled as he started to make his way to his car. "Have a good night," he told her.

"Oh, I will," she said. "As soon as Archiekins gets off." Jughead chuckled again at Veronica's response before getting inside his car and driving away.

* * *

"And then Sierra and me played princesses. And we rided our unicorns to our castle," Jughead listened as his 4 year-old daughter told him all about her day between bites of spaghetti-O's. This wasn't how Jughead had imagined his 22 year-old self when he was younger. Well, the spaghetti-O's part was actually pretty accurate. But everything else was not at all what he had imagined.

It wasn't his dream situation. After all, who dreamed of being a single dad of two kids while his wife- that word felt weird- was _somewhere_. He didn't know where she was. He just knew that the answer would never be Riverdale again. But, despite that, he felt like he had been a pretty decent dad so far. He had wanted to be a better parent than his parents were and he felt like he had done _that_, at least.

Later that night, after putting Hannah and Owen to sleep, Jughead layed down in his own bed. Alone. He had gotten used to the emptiness. He had gotten used to putting his kids to bed by himself. He had gotten used to the way that things were now. The first few months without her, he had been a mess. He had been in denial. He had been depressed. He had almost turned into his dad. His life had already fallen apart 3 years before that and he had rebuilt it. And then it was falling apart again. Apparently, that was what he got for trying to be the good guy.

But now, about a year and half later, he was complacent. He had rebuilt his life again. He was now _Jughead, single father_. And he was okay with it.

It wasn't like he didn't miss having someone next to him, to love and to share the moments and responsibilities of everyday life (although that wasn't exactly what his relationship with his wife had been like). There was a part of him that wanted to say "yes" to Veronica's offer to set him up with her friend. Betty Cooper sounded like someone that he might actually like. And he told Veronica that he didn't want to because he didn't want to add something else to his life on top of his job and his kids.

And that was both a lie and the truth. He _did_ have a lot in his life. But he also wasn't ready for another change. Over the past 4 and a half years, his life had changed so much and now, it had finally become consistent. And why send a ripple across perfectly calm waters that don't need it?

After satisfying his own internal musings, he fell asleep, ready for the next day in what was the monotonous consistency of his life.

* * *

"Auntie Toni," Hannah squealed as Jughead opened the door of his trailer for his wife's older sister.

"It's my Princess Hannah!" the 23 year-old excitedly greeted as she picked up her 4 year-old niece.

"Aun-nie!" Owen jumped up and down, clapping his hands excitedly.

"I was wondering where my Prince Owen was," Toni told the 2 year-old, picking him up after setting Hannah down.

"Auntie Toni," Hannah said, grabbing her aunt's hand, "come see my new tiara!"

"Okay," Toni agreed, "let's go see your new tiara."

Jughead smiled as he stirred the pasta on the stove. Their weekly Sunday dinners with Toni made him happy. They had been a thing since her younger sister had left him and he had been so relieved that Toni didn't blame him for ruining her sister's life like _he_ did.

He must have been incredibly lost in his thoughts because the next thing he knew, the pasta was boiling over. He quickly drained it and mixed it with the cheese sauce before setting the table and leaving the small kitchen.

He smiled at the sight that he saw his daughter's room before he knocked on the door frame. All three of them looked up from the plastic ponies they were playing with. "Dinner's ready," he announced to his expectant faces.

"Great," Toni smiled as she got up from the ground. "I'm starving."

"So what culinary creation have you made for us tonight?" Toni asked as they walked the few steps to the kitchen.

"Mac'n'cheese, of course," Jughead responded as they sat around the table.

"Of course," Toni laughed. "Your signature dish."

"I'm hurt, Toni," Jughead said, holding his hand to his chest in mock pain. "My signature dish is dinosaur chicken nuggets."

"Oh, of course," Toni laughed, "how silly of me to forget."

The rest of the dinner was fun. Jughead always enjoyed how excited Hannah and Owen were to see their Auntie Toni every week. As always, Hannah talked non-stop, making sure to tell her Auntie Toni all about her week, repeated the stories that Jughead had heard over the past week.

After dinner was over and Toni played with Hannah and Owen some more, it was bedtime for them. It always took forever to get them to fall asleep when Toni was over, which was the only part he didn't like about their weekly dinners.

After Hannah and Owen finally fell asleep, Jughead and Toni sat on the couch talking. Toni always said that it would be more fun if they added sipping beers to their late night conversations, but Jughead had been adamant about not having even a drop of alcohol ever since he had dedicated himself to being a better father than his own was. Toni had reassured him that he was never going to turn into his father, but she hadn't ever pushed the issue further.

"I went out with Cheryl again," Toni said. Even in the dark light, Jughead could see the smile on her face.

"Oh. How is Cheryl?" Jughead asked. He knew that Toni had first started seeing her a month or two ago and, if her previous relationships were any indication, it would last for no more than a month or two more.

"She's good," Toni said. "She's still playing hard to get. Is Veronica still trying to set you up with her journalist friend?"

"_Investigative_ journalist," Jughead corrected. "And yes. She's insisted that she won't give up until I give in."

"Well maybe you should," Toni suggested.

"Maybe I should _what_?" Jughead asked, caught off guard by Toni's response.

"Maybe you should give in. Let her set you up." Jughead was looking at Toni in shock. Of all the people who could tell him to move on, she shouldn't have been one of them. "She _ does_ seem like your type, Jug,"

"I don't have a type," he spat.

"Okay," Toni said, taken aback by his tone. "Well it just seems like you'd like her is all."

"I think that I'd know whether or not I'd like her," Jughead replied rudely.

"And you think you wouldn't?" Toni questioned, not being stopped by his tone again.

"I'm not dating right now," Jughead said with an air of finality. It was enough to convince Toni to drop the subject.

* * *

"You should let Veronica set you up," Toni told Jughead a week later.

"Let's not talk about this," Jughead said. He was tired of having this conversation.

"Why not?" Toni asked. She wasn't letting this go tonight.

"Didn't we just tuck the two reasons why into bed?" Jughead said, hoping that that would be the end of it.

"It's more than that, though," Toni said. He hated how well she knew him.

"Why does it matter?" Jughead asked defensively.

"Because you deserve to be happy," Toni said. "Whether or not you believe that, it's true."

"I _am_ happy," he argued back. "I have two amazing kids."

"You deserve to be happy in every way," Toni said and he knew what she meant.

"I'm married," Jughead defended.

"Does it _feel_ like you're married, Jug? Do you think _she_ acts like you're married?" Toni asked.

"Don't bring her into this," Jughead said.

"At some point, you have to stop pretending like she's innocent," Toni sighed.

"I'm not pretending anything!" Jughead almost yelled.

"I'll see you next week," Toni said, getting up from the couch before leaving the trailer.

* * *

"I know that you're tired of hearing this, but give her a chance," Toni told Jughead. He immediately knew who she was talking about.

"Nothing's changed," Jughead said. "I shouldn't."

"Sometimes you have to just take a chance," Toni said, her tone had a hint of dreaminess to it.

"I've taken a million chances," Jughead argued.

"I don't mean the kind where you bet our properties in the Southside on whether or not you win a street race," Toni argued back.

"And what would _you_ know about taking a chance like that? Cheryl may be a new girl, but it's the exact same routine and you're just going to run away as soon as it gets real again."

"Cheryl's different," Toni denied with venom in her voice. "And it's certainly not any of your business, but things _did_ get real. And I _didn't_ run away. So maybe I _do_ know a thing or two about taking a chance!" Toni stormed out of his trailer.

* * *

_Jug: I'm sorry for being a dick_

_Jug: Like, really sorry_

_Toni: Good. You should be_

_Jug: So am I forgiven?_

_Toni: What happened Sunday night?_

_Jug: You were right_

_Jug: I was scared to take a chance_

_Toni: Why?_

_Jug: Do we really have to talk about this?_

_Toni: Yes. For the sake of both our sanities_

_Jug: ...I don't want everything to fall apart again_

_Toni: No matter what happens, I promise that it can't be as bad as when she left_

_Jug: She had a right to leave_

_Toni: Just take a chance on this new girl, Jug_

* * *

"So are you still dying to set me up with your friend?" Jughead asked Veronica.

"Yes!" Veronica said, ready to try to convince Jughead for the thousandth time. "I swear you're gonna love her, Jughe-"

"I'm in," he cut her off, surprising her.

"Really?" Veronica asked. Her eyes were ten times wider and brighter than they had been before. "If you're messing with me, you're going to regret it beyond what you ever thought was possible."

"I'm not messing with you," Jughead assured. "I really mean it."

Veronica let out an ear-splitting squeal before taking out her phone and quickly tapping on a contact.

"Betty? What are you doing Saturday night?" Veronica spoke into the phone. "Good. Keep it clear. I'm setting you up with one of the guys Archie works with."

**Thanks for reading, guys! I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! So Jughead's wife (who's as much his wife as Gladys was FP's wife, really) is an OC, obviously (I don't know if like Toni had a younger sister in the comics or anything - I've never read them, just a huge fan of the show). And we'll be meeting Betty in the next chapter, so yay! Also, I feel like Jughead is the kind of dad that loves the excuse to just eat kid food all the time lol, so that's fun!**

**I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter! For now, I'm just doing weekly updates (super busy with work), so if you guys enjoyed this chapter, make sure to check back in next Sunday for a new one! As always, I love reviews! And I hope that you guys will tag along for this story with me! Thank you all for reading an have a wonderful Sunday!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, does anyone remember me promising that I would be posting chapter 2 last week? I do! Anyway, it's a week late, and it's really only half a chapter, but I wanted to post what I already had, seeing as it's already a week late. Not going to make any promises on my next update, since I've been working literally every day (but not the whole day, thankfully) for the past few weeks. Also moving soon, so packing things has been taking up some time. But I love this story as much as you guys hopefully do and I have plans for it, so don't lose hope.**

**Anyway, thank you so much to all of my readers. We've gotten 151 views just on the first chapter, guys! Very special thank you to kitten9322 and Boris Yeltsin for your reviews! Also to Boris Yeltsin, FrozenLime, Katybug21, , to love this, AJCappy, JoseGinny26, Rozsa93, carlymorford, cotychan, keylardzc, orangiethefox, and violet1429 for your favorites and follows! 13 after just one chapter! You guys are amazing an I love you all! I hope that you all enjoy this half-chapter!**

**Oh, also, Veronica's and Betty's dresses: Betty's dress is the white one that Lili wore to what I believe was 2018 san diego comic con. For Veronica's dress, I googled "Camila Mendes best looks" and found a pic of her in this green dress that I absolutely loved. If you go to google images, it was like the 5th result for me and it's this sleveless v-neck dark sage green dress. Anyway, now you guys can finally read the chapter lol!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

2

As Jughead got out of his car, he began to doubt himself. Should he really be doing this? Did it makes him a bad father that he was going out with some girl he didn't know rather than staying in with his kids? Toni had reassured him that it didn't as she pushed him out the door, promising again that she was an amazing babysitter.

He leaned his head against the metal of his car door, squishing the gray beanie atop his head. Toni had told him not to wear it, but hadn't absolutely insisted on it.

He tried to stop his heart and mind from racing. This was wrong. Wasn't it? Why had he agreed to it? _No_, he corrected himself. He hadn't just agreed to it. He had reminded Veronica about it and then explicitly told her to set him up with Betty Cooper. Why had he done that? Why had he let Toni convince him to do that?

He lifted his head off of the warm metal and opened his car door again before the sound of a voice made him stop and turn.

"Jughead?" Archie's voice called from a few yards away. The redhead was jogging over and quickly reached him. "Were... were you leaving?" He asked. The car door was still open.

"Tell her that I'm sorry," Jughead began. "Tell them both that I'm sorry."

"You can't leave," Archie protested. "Veronica will _kill_ me if I let you leave." Jughead still didn't cave. "She'll probably kill you too, you know," Archie added.

Jughead groaned. Archie was absolutely right. If he left now, Veronica would no doubt show up on the sight on Monday and chew him out about bailing on the double date that she had set up. If he hadn't had so many other things occupying his brain space, he would've wondered why his first date with this girl was a double date. But he didn't have the brain space to wonder about that.

"Let's go," Jughead gave in, shutting the car door, locking it, and finally walking away from it and into the restaurant. It was easy to identify Veronica. She somehow stood out in the room, as she always did, in a lacy green v-neck dress. His eyes found the blond woman next to her next. Veronica had not lied when she had said that Betty Cooper was beautiful. She looked beautiful in the sleveless white v-neck dress. Her hair was completely up except for a small section in the front. When she looked up, he got a perfect view of her beautiful green eyes. They had a spark of life in them.

She turned her head, probably saying something to Veronica as her eyes kept glancing back to Jughead and Archie, Veronica's eyes quickly following. Veronica nodded at her friend, offering the guys a smile before her face scrunched up slightly as she focused on Jughead. Jughead knew that it must be because of his outfit choice. Specifically the beanie. He knew that it didn't go with the rest of look (it didn't go with _any_ look, really). But he hadn't gone out without it on in the past 12 years and tonight would not be an exception.

In the time that it had taken Jughead to look over the blond's appearance, he and Archie had reached the table. The two women were now standing. Veronica's still hadn't quite recovered from the scowl that Jughead's beanie had caused, but she began to speak.

"Jughead," she introduced, "this is Betty, my best friend since high school."

"And mine since... basically since we were born," Archie added.

"I'm Jughead," he introduced lamely. "I work with Archie." He felt a bit awkward. Would it be weird to shake her hand? Would it be weird to not shake her hand?

"It's nice to meet you," Betty said, allowing Jughead to hear her voice for the first time. Like the rest of her, it was beautiful.

"You too, Betty," he smiled back.

The rest of the evening went on with Veronica making Betty blush and act modest while her praises were sang to Jughead. He found out from a proud Veronica that she had a few awards for her articles. He also found out that she had written the article that got the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, which Jughead hadn't even known existed till it's closure, was shut down as well as a series of articles defending the Southside, which had led to the mayor being pressured to enact the rent stabilization act that had been in effect in the Southside for years. Betty tried to downplay her accomplishments, saying that they were no big deal, but Jughead had never admired a woman more in his life. Betty Cooper looked innocent and sweet on the outside, but on the inside, she was a fierce warrior.

About halfway through dinner, Veronica excused herself to the bathroom and insisted that Betty come with her. When they had come back, Veronica had whispered something into Archie's ear and then announced that she and the redhead would be hanging out by the bar for a little bit. She then winked at Betty, which Jughead didn't know if he was meant to see, but he had.

"I'm sorry about her earlier," Betty began. "Sometimes she doesn't know when to stop singing my praises."

"Well you have a lot of praises to sing," Jughead replied. "What you've done is very impressive."

"It's not," Betty replied, "but thank you." Jughead saw the self-deprication in her that he also had. He moved on from the topic, as he knew he would want her to do if their roles were reversed.

"So how did you and Veronica become friends?" The question had been slowly moving to the forefront of her mind since Veronica had mentioned that she and Betty had been best friends since high school. To him, _recent acquaintances_ would've made more sense than best friends.

"I got asked to show her around Riverdale High when she moved here. She had just come from this private school in New York City and she always wore these pearls and designer outfits and carried around thousand dollar handbags, so of course I thought that she was just some shallow rich girl," Betty paused to take a drink. "But I misjudged her and now she's one of my closest and dearest friends. I mean, she's been there through _everything_."

"Wow," Jughead responded, not sure what else to say.

"Yeah," Betty responded. "I don't know how _you've_ managed to put up with her, though. I mean, I love her, but she can be a bit much to handle sometimes. Especially if you haven't known her for years."

"Agreed," Jughead chuckled.

**So I hope that you guys enjoyed this little half chapter and Betty finally being brought into this Bughead fic (cus you can't have Bughead without Betty). So, I know that double dates don't typically happen as the first date. There is a reason why it's a double date, not sure when in the story it will end up being revealed though (the reason goes along with a deep backstory). Also, Jughead's beanie. I don't know if there's like an official backstory for it (maybe like in the comics or something- idk, never read them), but I have my own backstory for it (again, I don't know when I will be revealing it), which I felt made it very in character for Jughead to wear his beanie on the date.**

**Thank you to anyone who's had the patience to come back and read the second chapter of this after 2 weeks! I have big plans for these two, so I hope you guys will stay along for the ride and I continue to write this. Cannot promise when my next update will be, but if you follow the story, you'll definitely know as soon as I post it lol. I know it's annoying for those of you viewing as guests, so I'm going say that I'm still aiming for my next update to be next Sunday or the Sunday after that. May or may not be that soon though, so I can almost guarantee that it will be updated again with in the month (that's such a bad guarantee, I know).**

**Anyway, thank you for reading, and I can't wait to see whoever comes back for the next update in chapter 3!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, yay! A (somewhat timely update)!**

**I really want to thank you guys for your views, follows, favorites, and reviews! You guys inspire me to write this story and write it well! So thank you so much to all of you for reading and a special thank you to Boris Yeltsin and violet1429 for your reviews last chapter!**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and just a quick note that Jughead's "wife" is named Amy (short for Amelia).**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

3

The night probably would've gone on forever had Veronica not interrupted, telling them that the restaurant was closing soon and they should probably get out of there. This had prompted Jughead to look at his watch and see that it was nearly 10:30, which sent his mind into a flurry, feeling guilty about not having relieved Toni of her babysitting duties sooner.

As he had hurriedly got his words out, apologizing to the group as he tried to rush out the door while also trying to send Toni a text, apologizing for keeping her for so long and promising that he would be home soon, Veronica managed to stop him.

"A few extra minutes won't hurt at this point," Veronica interrupted. "Why don't you walk Betty out to her car?" Jughead caught Veronica's quick head turn towards Betty and Betty's nod and smile towards her friend before Veronica was looking at him again less than a second later.

"Yeah," Jughead responded, his mind still cluttered with too many thoughts. "Yeah, I'd love to." He walked the short distance back to the group before extending his arm for Betty to take. He started doubting himself a quarter of a second later. It was an old-fashioned gesture. It was quirky. Why was he such a weirdo. But she took his arm with a brilliant smile, thanking him, and so his doubts quieted for a moment as he led her out the door.

He barely acknowledged Veronica and Archie's goodbye as they parted ways and he let Betty leave as he became hyper-aware of the light pressure on his arm from Betty's hand. His nervousness from earlier in the evening was returning. Why did this contact, this very minimal contact, make him feel so nervous?

"So," Betty began, bringing his attention from her touch to her words, "was this as bad as you thought it was going to be?"

"What makes you think that I thought it was going to be bad?" Jughead asked, caught off guard. He hadn't been exactly looking forward to it, of course. He had imagined Betty to be some kind of version of Veronica, which was not his idea of "perfect for him". But he had been pleasantly surprised by who Betty actually turned out to be. He felt both guilty and sad that Betty was asking that question.

"Before you came in, Archie had to convince you not to leave," she said timidly, looking down at the ground.

Jughead sighed, just now realizing what his second thoughts had made her thinking.

"That... that wasn't about you at all, Betty," her eyes looked up at his and he could see the confusion and curiosity. "I was just having some, uh, some second thoughts about... just about dating, uh, in general."

"Because of your kids?" Betty asked with a soft smile that he couldn't describe as anything other than understanding.

"Yeah," Jughead nodded, swallowing the lump that had risen in his throat as he had waited for Betty's response. "I... I think that you're really amazing, Betty," he went out on a limb, causing Betty to blush and look down again. "I really do. And I'm really glad that I met you..." He was afraid of what his next words could do. "But... I think that I might've... rushed into this."

"Do you really mean that?" Betty asked, searching his eyes to see if they held any sincerity.

"I do," Jughead promised, really hoping that Betty believed him. He really didn't want her to think that he wanted to date but wasn't interested in her. That would be a very grievous misunderstanding.

"Friends then?" Betty asked, ending her search. Apparently, she had found the sincerity that she had been looking for.

"Yes," Jughead quickly agreed. "Absolutely. I would love that." He was momentarily floored. He felt extremely lucky that Betty was even interested in just being friends.

"Me too," Betty smiled, unlocking her phone before bringing up a screen for a new contact and handing it over to him. It took him a moment to get used to the phone keyboard. He had had an iPhone in high school (which he had shoplifted, just like a lot of the kids at Southside High), but he had switched to a flip phone a couple years ago when he had decided that he didn't want to risk somehow being the idiot who got caught for shoplifting. He had wiped the phone's memory and wiped his prints off of it before smashing it to pieces with a hammer and chucking the scraps into Sweetwater River. Amy had called him paranoid. And had been seriously annoyed with him for completely destroying a good phone. He had told her that he just didn't want to get caught for shoplifting, especially now that he was a father. She had said that he was "taking the whole fatherhood thing a bit too seriously".

"Forget your number?" Betty asked with a smile and a hint of a laugh, drawing Jughead out of his thoughts.

"Sorry," he apologized, quickly typing in his name and number as he let the memory leave his mind and go back to the past where it belonged.

"It's alright," Betty said as he handed her back her phone. She quickly sent him a text, just a letter B, and he felt the buzzing of his phone in his front pocket as he continued walking her the last few feet to her car. "Thanks for walking me, Jug."

Jughead found himself smiling at the nickname she had just used. There weren't a lot of people who called him that, but he was glad that she had just made herself one of them.

"It was my pleasure, Betts," he said before finally parting ways with her. He had moved quite a few feet away from her before he realized that he had let a nickname for her slip from his mouth.

* * *

"Toni?" Jughead whispered as he entered his dark trailer. He looked around the trailer and quickly spotted her on the couch, sitting straight up, looking right at him. Something that living in the Southside had taught both of them was to be alert whenever you heard your front door getting unlocked.

"Hey," she whispered back, getting up from the couch and rubbing her eyes. She must have been sleeping. "How was it?" He could hear the excitement in her voice and, for some reason, it made his stomach twist a bit.

"It was fine," he said. The smile that had been on his face all night wasn't there anymore.

"_Just_ fine? You were gone for quite a while," Toni questioned with a smile.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Jughead quickly apologized.

"It was no trouble at all," Toni quickly responded. "Now honestly, how was it?"

"Uh, I think that it might've been a mistake trying to date again right now," he admitted and he could see Toni's face fall. "But we decided to be friends," the smile on his face was back.

"Just regular friends or friends with benefits or something?"

"Regular friends," Jughead quickly clarified. This conversation was quickly making him feel weird. Maybe it was because he and Toni hadn't talked about his love/sex life since her sister had gotten pregnant.

"I keep forgetting how much you've changed since high school, Jug," Toni remarked.

Jug felt that uncomfortable, dry feeling in his throat again, being reminded of who exactly he had been in high school.

"Yeah," was all he could say as he tried to make it go away. "Thanks again for babysitting tonight," he said, handing the $10 bill that they had compromised on (he had wanted to pay her like a real babysitter. Toni told him to spoil his date or his kids instead, but she had also never done anything for free).

"Always my pleasure when you pay me to spend time with my niece and nephew," Toni quietly laughed before heading out the door.

* * *

"So, how was last night? What happened on the walk to your car? Did you kiss him?" Veronica was beyond excited as she grilled Betty over brunch the next morning.

"Sorry to disappoint, V, but no, we didn't kiss," Betty answered.

"Why not?" Veronica demanded. "He was _so_ smitten. And I thought you liked him. Did stuff get weird after Archie and I went to the bar?"

"No, no, not at all," Betty reassured. "He was great. He... he said that he realized that he wasn't ready to date again."

"He seriously gave you that excuse?" Veronica asked, exasperated and forgetting to be tactful. "I really thought that he was one of the good ones."

"He is, V. It wasn't an excuse. I could tell that he was being honest. Besides, we agreed to be friends."

"That's _great_?" Veronica questioned, not knowing what exactly her reaction was supposed to be.

"It is," Betty confirmed. "I really enjoyed last night."

"As long as you're happy, I guess," Veronica concluded with a supportive smile before taking a bite of a perfectly-buttered croissant.

* * *

_Betty Cooper: So there's this journalism awards thing I'm supposed to go to next Thursday. Was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me? Definitely not a date. Just hoping for you to help keep me awake through the thousand speeches everyone gives. I'm making it sound way too exciting, right?_

Jughead smiled at Betty's (long) text. He couldn't help it.

_Sounds fun. Lemme see what I can do about a sitter?_

Jughead's eyes were glued to his tiny phone screen as he waited with excitement that created an odd feeling in his stomach.

_Betty Cooper: Ok. Let me know when you do!_

He still had a bit of that odd feeling in his stomach. It wasn't a date. Just two friends. Nut he still felt odd. Excited, nervous, and odd.

_To: Toni_

_Any chance you're free to babysit again next Thursday?_

**So, I promise Bughead is endgame. But character development over fluff lol. Hope you guys liked this and thank you so much for reading! Also, get hyped, cus we _sort of_ get a Bughead date next chapter (except it's "definitely not a date"). Who's excited lol?**

**Reviews are super appreciated! I have exactly zero chapters written in advance, so if you leave a comment, question, suggestion, etc, chance are that it'll end up in the story in some way (either directly or indirectly by sparking my inspiration for something). Also, don't have an exact date on when I'll update again. It'll be soon-ish (I know that's so vague lol). So if you guys can put up with my inconsistency, come back to check out chapter 4 whenever I end up posting it. Thanks, all!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, chapter 4! It's finally here! I'm really excited because I feel like this chapter is the first one where things, like, actually happen rather than just being set-up for the story (although there's some set-up too). I know it's been like forever, but thanks for bearing with me guys. Just a ginormous thank you to everyone who keeps coming back to read my updates because it takes me forever to write! And a special thank you to Boris Yeltsin for your review last chapter! I really hope you guys enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

4

_Betty Cooper: So there's this journalism awards thing I'm supposed to go to next Thursday. Was wondering if maybe you wanted to come with me? Definitely not a date. Just hoping for you to help keep me awake through the thousand speeches everyone gives. I'm making it sound way too exciting, right?_

Jughead smiled at Betty's (long) text. He couldn't help it.

_Sounds fun. Lemme see what I can do about a sitter?_

Jughead's eyes were glued to his tiny phone screen as he waited with excitement that created an odd feeling in his stomach.

_Betty Cooper: Ok. Let me know when you do!_

He still had a bit of that odd feeling in his stomach. It wasn't a date. Just two friends. But he still felt odd. Excited, nervous, and odd.

_To: Toni_

_Any chance you're free to babysit again next Thursday?_

* * *

Toni smiled at the text she had received from Jughead. Since her sister had left, he hadn't spent a single night out, with the exception of his date the past Saturday. And now he was about to spend a night out again. And if Toni was any good at guessing, then it was with that girl again- Betty. She responded almost instantly to his text, letting him know that she was definitely free before sending off a new text, hoping to get herself off of Serpent duty that night.

* * *

"You're dancing, daddy!" Hannah exclaimed after she noticed her father dancing around the kitchen as he prepared dinner that night.

Jughead was taken by surprise. He hadn't realized till now that he had been doing that.

"Yeah, I guess I am, sweetie," he smiled at his daughter.

* * *

"So what's happening Thursday night?" Toni asked.

"Uh, a journalism awards thing," Jughead answered.

"With Betty?" Toni asked with a smile.

"Uh, yeah," he responded, his mouth going dry.

"I'm happy for you."

"It's-it's not a date," Jughead quickly informed her.

"Okay," Toni responded. She wanted to push him, but knew that she shouldn't.

"It's _not_," he re-affirmed.

"_Okay_," she repeated again.

* * *

At 6:00, Betty arrived outside Jughead's Southside trailer. Like a true gentleman, he had offered to drive. But Betty had insisted on being the driver and he hadn't put up a fight.

Conversation came easily during the drive as they caught up with each other. Most of Betty's stories were about work, although she was a bit reserved about it, while Jughead mostly talked about his kids.

"I'm talking too much about my kids, aren't I?" he asked, suddenly becoming aware that he might be.

"No, I think it's very endearing," Betty sincerely reassured. "I can tell what Veronica meant about you basically being superdad."

"I wouldn't say _that_," Jughead ducked his head down. He wasn't really used to receiving praise. "I'm just trying to be a better father than mine was."

"It sounds like you already are." Jughead liked how Betty didn't tell him she was sorry.

* * *

"Betty Cooper," A short brunette woman greeted them with a sneer after they arrived. "I wasn't expecting to see you here." She wore a smile on her face, even thought Jughead already knew that it was definitely fake. "And finally with a date, I see. How much do escorts cost these days?"

"It's nice to see you here too, Kate," Betty smiled. "I hope you enjoy your night." Before Kate could say another word, Betty grabbed Jughead's hand and led him forward, away from the snarky brunette.

"Friend of yours?" Jughead joked, keeping his mind of off how holding her hand felt.

"She's a reporter from Greendale: Kate Stevens," Betty explained. "I 'stole' one of her awards last year and she's been like that since then."

"She's really cut-throat, isn't she?" Jughead asked.

"Well, she's basically declared me her lifelong enemy over an award that only holds any meaning in about 3 towns that no one outside of has heard of."

"I'll bet you put Riverdale on the map," Jughead smiled before it quickly faded. He had meant every word of it, but it had felt wrong. Wrong to be saying something like that to her. He withdrew his hand from hers, acknowledging that it gave him the same kind of feeling that his most recent comment had. Betty didn't say anything about it.

"This is our table," she said as they reached a table with a "4" on it. Throughout the short dinner prefacing the awards, Jughead tried to get over the awkwardness that he had caused. He still didn't quite understand why he had felt that way. Why it had felt wrong to him. But instead of trying to figure out why, he focused on pushing it away. On going back to how it had been before he had ruined it.

He had his opportunity as soon as the awards portion started with a long introduction by some middle-aged woman.

"It's officially your job to keep me awake now," Betty said, nudging him.

"I'll try my best," Jughead smiled back.

"Oh good. I was afraid you'd just let me fall asleep," Betty joked.

"In these chairs? Come on, I'm not _that_ cruel," he bantered back, ignoring the feeling that was slowly starting to grow in the pit of his stomach. The feeling that grew just a little bit when he heard her softly laugh.

As the night began to drag on, Jughead kept her awake by anything from comments on outfits to guessing what kind of car they drove, to making up backstories for people he didn't know. It surprised Betty when the little that she did know about these people proved Jughead to be not entirely wrong, which he attributed to his years of people-watching.

"The next award, for Daring to Dig Deeper, goes to Betty Cooper of the Riverdale Register in Riverdale." Jughead smiled as he began to clap for Betty after the surprise. He noticed the way that dipped her head down and pulled her hair to cover her face a little more as she made her way towards the stage. He also noticed how Kate Stevens didn't take her venomous eyes off of the blond.

"Thank you," Betty said with a shy little smile as she received the award. Jughead found himself thinking about how cute that smile was as the feeling in his stomach grew. "Uh, I'd like to thank my fellow journalists for all of their help and support and my editor for encouraging me. Thank you." Betty quickly descended the stage, looking down at the floor, as applause filled the room once more. He could see now that she wasn't too fond of being the center of attention.

"Congratulations," Jughead whispered to her after she returned to her seat.

"Thanks," she smiled back. "But it's really nothing."

* * *

"You don't seem to be a huge fan of any part of these ceremonies," Jughead commented later as he and Betty walked over to her car.

"I'm not, really," Betty admitted. "Spending a few hours every few months, listening to people drone on, just to receive a basically worthless piece of paper? Not exactly my dream evening."

"Why do you do it then?" Jughead asked, realizing after that it was a bit too nosy of a question to just casually ask. He had always had less of a filter when it came to social behavior. But before he could apologize, Betty responded.

"A result of my childhood, I guess. My mom was always obsessed with any kind of awards or recognition, no matter how small." Betty explained, her face falling a bit. "Plus, my editor gives me the day off for going to this."

"Your mom sounds like she must have been pretty great," Jughead said, not picking up on Betty's implications or why her face had fallen.

"Please don't say that," Betty said, a dark yet sad look filling her eyes.

Jughead nodded as he got into the car. He could tell by her tone that she either couldn't or didn't want to talk about her mother. It was the same tone he used whenever he became closed off. Whenever someone brought up _his_ mother. Or his father. Or his sister. Or _her._ He took a moment the remember that the one thing he disliked about seeing Toni so much was that she always reminded him of _her_.

* * *

Jughead walked in smiling, just like he had the last time he had spent the evening with Betty. He fell asleep smiling, in fact. And after he got up the next morning, his daily cup of coffee wasn't the only thing that made him smile. It was also the fact that there was a text waiting for him (revealing Betty to be quite the night owl). He smiled as he read the text thanking him for coming with her, once again making him think of how cute she was and contributing to an odd feeling in his stomach.

* * *

5 weeks later, on a Friday night, Betty arrived at the trailer for dinner. As introductions were made, he realized that Betty was really the first non-family member who had met his kids. But he supposed that made sense, as he had enjoyed the past few weeks that he had spent with Betty. He had come to trust her and he knew that they would end up being friends for a long time. It made no sense for her to _not_ meet the two most important in his life.

After the two children had finally settled into their beds for the night, he and Betty sat on the couch just he and Toni did every Sunday. Betty had been telling him what an amazing father he was. How she knew it for sure know, having witnessed it firsthand. How much she admired him and how lucky his children were to have him for a father.

He hadn't planned to. He wasn't even aware that he was doing it until after it had already happened. He had been looking at her eyes, the way that they lit up while there was also a hint of sadness in them. And then his eyes had moved down to her lips for a moment, watching them form the words. He didn't realize that his lips had put themselves against hers until they were pulling away.

She sat still next to him, her eyes wide, and her lips parted. Jughead was in a similar state of shock, but managed to utter 4 words.

"I'm so sorry, Betty." Why did he always have to screw everything up? He buried his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, before retreating down the hallway into his bedroom, something that he would realize he had learned from his mother if he thought about it. About a minute later, he heard the sound of his front door opening and closing, knowing that Betty had let herself out. He had enough remaining cognitive function to walk over and lock it before stumbling back into his bedroom and collapsing on his mattress.

The feeling in his stomach had built to it's full force and he could now tell what it was: guilt.

**So, they finally _sort of_ exited the friend zone. And Jughead is finally forced to confront his feelings about moving on. I hope that you guys liked this chapter and didn't feel like it was too much filler!**

**If you guys have any questions, comments, suggestions, feedback, etc, reviews are always very appreciated! Thank you all so much for reading! Don't have any dates for chapter 5, but I am feeling very excited to write it, so we'll see where that takes me time-wise lol! Thanks again for reading, all, and have a wonderful Wednesday!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, all! It's me, back with another chapter. And less than a week after the last one! I can't believe it either! But, I was feeling inspired to write today and ended up getting a whole chapter out, so...**

**Thank you so very much to all of my readers, guys! Seeing your views, follows, reviews, etc really encourages me to keep writing, so thank you so much to all of you for the encouragement you give just by viewing my writing! I would like to give a special thank you to violet1429 and Boris Yeltsin for your reviews on my last chapter.**

**Violet: yes, I'm so happy for Jug for taking that step and I am really excited for when he gets it all resolved (because it is killing me to keep the Bughead to a minimum right now).**

**And Boris: I've got a few mentions of Varchie scattered throughout, but not exactly focused on them. Veronica and Archie are engaged (if you really want to find the spot where it's written, it's like one sentence in the first chapter where I refer to Veronica as Archie's fiance). Cheryl has been mentioned very briefly (also in the first chapter). She and Toni are dating, but we have not met her yet and we also haven't heard anything about her since the first chapter. But, being the other half of Choni _and_ Betty's cousin (technically 3rd cousin), she will definitely be coming up again.**

**Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoy this chapter! And also a quick reminder that Jughead's "wife" is name Amy (short for Amelia) and she is Toni's younger sister.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

5

_*This chapter starts with a more detailed version of what happened the night that Jughead kissed Betty in the last chapter, so I guess it's technically a flashback lol? Don't get confused.*_

Betty nervously walked toward Jughead's trailer. She shouldn't have been nervous. It wasn't a date, they were just two friends. But she couldn't deny that she had deeper feelings for him. And maybe he did too. Over the past few weeks, there had been moments when he had looked at her and she thought that maybe he _did_. But then he would look away. He would scoot just a little bit further away from her. His smile would falter. So maybe he _didn't_. But regardless of whether they were one-sided or not, Betty undeniably had feelings for Jughead.

She shifted the dish of cobbler into just one hand as she knocked on the door. One of the things that her mother had drilled into her, _before_ she had joined the cult and completely abandoned her younger daughter, was to never arrive empty-handed. And Jughead hadn't been able to turn down her offer of bringing dessert.

The door swung open and two smiles appeared.

"Hey," Jughead greeted. "Come in."

"Hi," Betty smiled back, stepping into the trailer.

"Oh, I was talking to the dessert. But it's good to see you too, Betty," Jughead joked, earning him an eye roll and a stifled laugh from Betty.

"As long as we're clear on why you're _really_ friends with me," Betty joked as she followed Jughead into the kitchen. He chuckled and Betty could see that look in his eyes again, before he turned his back to her and focused on stirring a pot of spaghetti on the stove.

"So what does the chef have in store for us tonight?" Betty asked, breaking the temporary silence.

"Only if you can promise to contain your excitement at the _extravagant_ culinary masterpiece I have planned tonight."

"I promise to contain my excitement," Betty said, being reminded of how Jughead's sense of humor had contributed to her feelings for him.

"Well, we're having spaghetti _with_ meatballs and sauce, heated by hand. And a side of salad, pre-mixed for our convenience. You can't even _imagine_ how hard it's been to prepare this, Betty." Jughead finished, wiping imaginary sweat off of his brow.

"How do you even have time to do anything else?" Betty mused, playing along.

"It's so hard, Betty," Jughead responded, not realizing that he was just a little serious.

He turned a knob on the stove, turning off the burner before dumping the contents of the pot into a colander her had placed in the sink earlier.

"Do you want any help with anything?" Betty asked, reminding Jughead that this wasn't a typical night. That there was someone here to help him.

"Yeah. That would be great, actually," he smiled. "Could you set the table? Plates are in that cupboard." He pointed to a cupboard and Betty nodded, opening it up and grabbing the dishes, leaving Jughead smiling in front of the sink. He quickly moved from his position, though, remembering that his original goal was to get dinner on the table. As he caught view of Betty setting the table, he was reminded of a correction he needed to inform Betty of.

"Oh, you should probably put Owen's plate next to mine," he said, getting her attention. "He doesn't like sitting in his own chair yet." Betty nodded before fixing the table and smiling, being reminded once again of the type of caring man that Jughead was.

After setting the food down on the table, he went into the bedroom that Hannah and Owen shared, where the two children had been playing, oblivious of the two adults in the other room. As they came into the kitchen, Owen hid behind his father's legs while Hannah excitedly walked up to Betty, introducing herself, before she started to excitedly run to her room to show Betty all her toys.

"Hannah," her father called, stopping the little girl. "Why don't we have dinner first and you can show Betty all your toys after?" A second later, he looked at Betty, realizing that he had offered her time without knowing if she was actually okay with it. But she smiled and nodded at him, able to read his face perfectly. And with that, everyone took their seats, Jughead, Betty, and Hannah and their own chairs and a still shy Owen in his father's lap.

Hannah began talking excitedly, telling Betty anything that came into her mind before she took her first pause of the night.

"What's this, daddy?" she asked, poking an orange carrot coin with her fork.

"It's a carrot," Jughead responded. "Bunnies eat carrots. Do you want to be a bunny, Hannah?"

Hannah nodded excitedly, telling Betty "I'm a bunny" before putting the carrot in her mouth and Betty couldn't help but smile again at Jughead. At how gentle and encouraging he was. How hadn't insisted that she just eat it, which had been her parents' method of getting her to eat new foods when she was little. Betty was drawn back out of her thoughts as Hannah finished chewing and began talking again.

As dinner progressed, Hannah continue to talk non-stop, pausing only to take bites of her food. Jughead mostly watched in admiration and happiness as Betty patiently listened to his daughter, even reacting to her stories whenever the 4 year-old paused. Both Jughead and Betty were surprised when Owen had climbed off of his father's lap and onto Betty's when dessert was served, no doubt warming up to her because of his sister's example. Jughead's heart had swelled when Betty had cuddled the boy after getting over her surprise.

After dinner and dessert, Hannah had whisked Betty away to her bedroom, not forgetting her father's promise that she could show Betty all of her toys after dinner. His heart swelled again as he watched Betty genuinely smile while Hannah showed her all of her toys. There weren't too many, less than a lot a children her age, but she excitedly told Betty about every single one. He watched, slightly in amazement, as Hannah asked Betty to play ponies with her and even let Betty play as her favorite pony. It was one that Hannah didn't even let _him_ play as. He said as much to Betty, remarking that she must be special, before he felt his chest tighten slightly. His heart felt full as he watched Betty play with both of his kids.

After what seemed too quick an evening to the two children, it was bedtime. They protested greatly, wanting to stay up and play with Betty more, even though they were already beginning to yawn. Without thinking much, Jughead had said that Betty could come over and play with them again another time, which was the reasoning that he used to get them to sleep every Sunday when Toni came over. Before he even had time to overthink about whether or not Betty even _wanted_ to come back again, Betty was repeating his words, promising to come back and play with them some other day.

After a bedtime story that they insisted be told by Betty tonight, both Hannah and Owen were finally fast asleep as Betty and Jughead sat together on his old sofa.

"You really are an amazing father, Jughead," Betty complimented. "Hearing the way you talk about them, I always thought you were a dedicated father, but now I know for sure that you are, Jug. Seeing you with them tonight... they are _so_ lucky to have you as their father." Betty tried not to, but she couldn't help thinking about her own father. How much different his relationship with her and Polly was from Jughead and _his_ children.

"I'm just doing my job," Jughead modestly responded to her praise. "_You_ are the one who was absolutely incredible with them tonight when you didn't even have to be. I think we're all really happy that you came over tonight." Jughead didn't register her next words as he got lost in his own that he had just spoken. His eyes moved from hers down to her lips, watching them form the words that he still couldn't decipher.

Betty was quite shocked as Jughead suddenly pressed his lips against hers. It was over too quickly as he suddenly pulled away, looking at her with his eyes wide and mouth open even wider, a look of horror and shock taking over his face.

"I'm so sorry, Betty," he said, pushing his head down into his hands. "I'm sorry," he muttered before jumping up from the couch and retreating towards the bedrooms. She heard his bedroom door open and shut as she continued to sit there, still a bit in shock.

Jughead had just kissed her! And it should've been amazing. The kiss itself was amazing. But the image of his face after was prominent in his mind. He had regretted it. Why had he regretted it? Why was kissing her so horrible? She didn't know, but she managed to get herself off of the couch, and out of the trailer before her tears started to fall as she made her way to her car. She wiped her eyes, keeping her tears under control enough that she could drive, wanting to get away from Jughead.

She drove straight to her apartment, pulling into a parking space before reversing, realizing that she didn't want to be alone at the moment. The next parking lot she pulled into was the one for Archie and Veronica's complex.

"B?" Veronica answered the door in a robe, looking very confused at seeing Betty's tear-stained face in front of her. She quickly opened her arms, however, wrapping Betty in a hug. "What happened, B?" she asked, leading her best friend over to the couch.

"He kissed me," Betty said after finally catching her breath. "But, but then he had this- this look on his face. Like-like it was a horrible mistake. Why does he think it was a mistake, V?" Betty sobbed.

"I don't know, B," Veronica tried to comfort as she waved at Archie, who had recently appeared in the doorway of their bedroom half-dressed, to go back to bed. "But there must be something wrong with him if that's what happened."

"Or maybe there's something wrong with me," Betty said. "Why would he even want me?"

"B, look at me," Veronica said, gently grabbing Betty's face. "You are beyond amazing. You are incredible. And nay guy who doesn't want you is absolutely insane."

"Thanks, V," Betty smiled just a little bit, not exactly feeling better but still being reminded of what a great best friend she had.

* * *

"I kissed her," Jughead confessed to Toni. "I'm so sorry, Toni. I kissed her." Tears came to his eyes as he apologized profusely.

"Why are you apologizing, Jug?" Toni asked, completely confused.

"I kissed her, Toni!" He tried to keep his voice quiet, reminding himself that his children were asleep. "I have a wife and I kissed Betty!" His eyes filled with tears again as he remembered the depth of his transgression.

"Jug," Toni said, softening now that she realized what exactly it was about. "It's okay that you kissed Betty-"

"It's not!" Jughead insisted. "It's not!"

"Jug," Toni tried again, trying to make him see her reasoning. "I understand that you're still legally married to my sister, but you two might as well be divorced. You haven't seen her in almost two years, Jug. And it's okay to move on."

"How can you say that? She's your sister! You should be pissed off at me right now!"

"I get that this hard for you, Jug," Toni sighed. "But you did the right thing. You stood by her and tried to make it work. But she made her choice. She chose to leave. You don't have to keep holding this self-sacrificial flame for her. She let you go and you need to do the same with her."

Jughead stayed frozen, tears running down his face, and he let Toni's words hit him.

"What if she comes back?" Jughead finally asked, trying to find an excuse to not take Toni's words to heart.

"She's moved on, Jug, and you deserve to do the same."

* * *

_"Hey, stranger," Jughead said nervously, trying to smile at his wife, who he hadn't seen for months._

_"Don't, Jughead," she just shook her head as she tried to walk past him._

_"Amy, please," he said, stopping her with his words as his arms were filled with their almost 6-month son._

_"No!" She said firmly, turning back to him with tears in her eyes. "I'm done with this shit! I just want a normal life, Jughead! I've lost out on the past 3 years because of you! I'm not losing out on the rest of my life, too!"_

_He stayed silent as she walked away, a cap in one hand and a diploma in the other as her gown billowed out with the wind. And all he could do was watch. She was right. He had ruined her life. He had ruined her past 3 years because he had made a stupid decision. Because he had gotten her pregnant. Twice. All before she was even 18. And she was right. She deserved a normal life. One where she didn't have to deal with his screw-ups._

**So, I felt like this chapter was mostly sort of fluff, but it was cute fluff, so... Anyway, I hoped that you guys liked seeing the end of the night sort of from Betty's view (since you briefly saw it from Jughead's view last chapter). And, yes, it may be slightly unrealistic, but Jughead is superdad in this story and I'm finding that I really love writing him as such.**

**Also, in case the very last flashback wasn't clear, it was Amy at her high school graduation. I don't know if I've mentioned ages before, but she's about 2 years younger than Jughead (who's currently 22 in this story). I'm going to be trying to incorporate more flashbacks about her into the story. Not cus we care about her (cus I'm already starting to love hating on her lol), but just to show how their relationship fell apart, exactly. Right now, I'm sort of leaning towards doing the flashbacks in reverse chronological order, but they might end up in a different order lol.**

**Anyway, thank you all so much for reading and for all of your support of my story! Reviews are always appreciated! While the positive ones always make me smile, I don't mind negative ones. They help me to improve the quality of my story and make it more realistic (as long as you tell me what specificall you hate about the story rather than that you hate the whole thing lol). Anyway, thanks again for reading an putting up with all my tangents. Have a great day, guys!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yay! Update! So I've decided that I want to do flashbacks at the beginning and end of each chapter. So far, I'm planning on making the one at the beginning flashbacks from after Amy's graduation while I'm planning to make the one at the end from before her graduation. So I'm excited to be writing those flashbacks, as well as the rest of the story!**

**Thank you so much to all of my readers! This story has gotten so much attention that I didn't expect and I'm just grateful to everyone for the attention that you're giving this story! And a special thank you to violet1429 and Boris Yeltsin for your reviews last chapter!**

**And to address a question: Why haven't Jughead and Amy gotten divorced yet? It's a lapse in writing lol. I don't really have this story well planned out. (My planning document is just some birthdates I decided on like last week, a little bit of backstory for Betty, and "Jughead and Betty fall in love" lol.) But, Idk, I guess we can pretend that it's because Jug was too upset and depressed to deal with it after she left and I guess Amy was just too busy trying to get out of Riverdale and everything lol? Anyway, it's a plot hole, not something that's intentional lol.**

**And anyway, I really hope that you guys enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

6

_"Jug?" Toni asked as he approached her and his daughter, who she had been watching during his confrontation with her sister._

_His frame was slumped as he moved impossibly slow. His head was down, but when he glanced up she could see a trail of wetness running down one of his cheeks, obviously left there recently by a tear. The little boy in his arms was cradled close to his chest._

_"What happened?" She asked gently. He just shook his head as he lightly took his daughter's hand, walking away without a word._

* * *

Jughead's fingers hovered over his phone as he tried to make them connect with the keyboard. It was 3am and he wanted to sleep. He _should_ sleep. But he wanted to text Betty. He wanted to talk to her. To let her know about everything that was going through his mind. He wanted to so badly. But he couldn't get his hands to cooperate with that plan.

He fell asleep still staring at his phone screen before waking up after too few hours of sleep.

Archie didn't talk to him all day and when Veronica came to the site to have lunch with Archie, she glared daggers at him the whole time. If looks could kill, Veronica's would have undoubtedly killed him by now.

Betty had been in the back of his mind all day and that didn't change when he arrived home. He spent his second night in a row staring at his phone screen, unable to tell Betty what he wanted to. The next morning was his second day of being ignored by Archie and glared at by Veronica.

After the third consecutive day of such behavior, he was finally able to get the words out. As he lay in his bed that Wednesday night, his fingers finally cooperated, moving over the keyboard and typing the words that he wanted to say. Well, some of them, at least.

_I'm sorry about how I reacted on Friday. There's a lot going on in my head and I'm trying to get it figured out. I didn't mean to drag you into it. I'm sorry, again._

* * *

_Jug: I'm sorry about how I reacted on Friday. There's a lot going on in my head and I'm trying to get it figured out. I didn't mean to drag you into it. I'm sorry, again._

Betty huffed as she set her phone back down on her desk. She was glad that he was finally manning up and saying _something_ to her about it. But she was still annoyed at him that it had taken him almost a week to do so. She decided that if she had had to wait almost a week, then he could wait just as long for her response.

* * *

"Hear me out before you shut me down," Toni began, "but maybe you should talk to someone? Like, professionally. About everything."

Jughead just remained silent, not willing to say anything. When Toni stayed silent as well, Jughead finally gave in.

"Maybe," he softly admitted.

* * *

_Betty: I can't say that I completely forgive you or that I fully understand, but thanks. And if you need to talk, I'm here._

Jughead found himself both smiling and scowling a little at the text. Betty didn't forgive him, but she _had_ responded. And said that she was there to talk. But as he thought about talking to Betty, he realized that he couldn't. Not about this topic, at least.

What he knew was that he liked Betty. Wrong or right, even through his muddled feelings, he _knew_ that. But he also knew that he had conflicting and confusing emotions about that feeling. And that he wanted to clear them up. Which is what led him to taking Toni's advice.

* * *

Betty was surprised when she opened her text from Jughead since their texting lately had been sporadic.

_I know that my last apology wasn't quite sufficient so let me try again. Any chance that I can do that in person?_

Betty couldn't ignore the way that her heart fluttered reading that text. She couldn't believe that he was making _multiple_ apologies.

_I think I'd like that_, Betty texted back. _When and where?_

* * *

On Saturday, Jughead and Betty sat on opposite sides of a booth at _Pop's_, where Jughead realized that Betty was a regular after witnessing her brief catch-up with Pop Tate when she had walked in.

"I'm- I'm really glad that, uh, that you agreed to this," Jughead said, trying to look at her instead of his hands.

"Of course," Betty smiled. "You sounded like it was really important to you."

"It is," he nodded. When Betty didn't fill the momentary silence left after his two words, Jughead decided to keep talking.

"I, uh, I started talking to a therapist earlier this week," Jug continued, slowly growing slightly uncomfortable as he thought about which words to put his feelings into. "And, uh, of course I haven't worked through everything yet. But, uh, I'm sorry about what happened with, uh, with the kiss, Betts. I'm sorry about how I reacted after. And, uh, I shouldn't have kissed you when I had these, uh, unresolved feelings-"

"Why did you kiss me, Jughead?" Betty asked, wanting the answer to the question she had thought about for the past two weeks. "Why did you kiss me if you had those unresolved feelings and you were just going to regret it?"

"I-I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry, Betts. I did it without even thinking. I didn't know that I was going to regret it. I didn't realize that I had these unresolved feelings until- until I kissed you. I just- I wasn't thinking and I'm so sorry."

"You can stop apologizing," Betty said nicely. "Just, why-" Betty paused for a moment, looking down at her own hands before managing to look back up at him. "You-you said that you kissed me because you weren't thinking. But-but you wanted to, right?" She paused, waiting for him to respond. When he gave a small nod, his eyes slightly widened as he thought about her question, she continued. "Why? Why did you want to?" Betty asked, trying to get a real answer out of him.

The conversation between the two was silent for a moment as Jughead thought. He knew why. He just wasn't sure if he was going to tell her the truth. Would it make things worse if he told her? Maybe it would, but he knew that he wanted Betty in his life and that she didn't deserve to be lied to.

"I-I like you, Betty," Jughead admitted, unable to look at her during his confession. "And, tha-that's why I kissed you." He still didn't look up. When Betty didn't say anything, he decided that it was time for him to say more. "And- and I don't think... I _know_ that I'm not ready to, uh, to start anything. But, I-I've really liked having you around, Betts, and I-I'd really like for us to be friends again."

"I'd like that too, Juggie," Betty said, finally speaking. When Jughead dared to finally look up, she was smiling. "Can I ask you one more question?"

"Sure," Jughead nodded, slightly nervous about what she might ask him.

"You said you had unresolved feelings..." Betty said, leaving her question open-ended, hoping Jughead would be more loose-lipped than he had with her other question.

Jughead stayed silent, never having really been one to share more than was required.

"What- Unresolved feelings about what?" Betty asked, realizing that he probably wasn't going to answer if she didn't pose a specific question.

"My, uh, my wife," Jughead answered, wincing slightly at the word. Betty's eyes were looking at him, asking him to say more. But he shook his head. He had just barely dived into the topic of Amelia Topaz with his therapist. He wasn't ready yet to dive into it with Betty.

It made him smile when Betty just nodded, changing the topic to ask him about his kids. He had certainly missed talking to her.

* * *

"So how was the meeting with Jughead?" Veronica asked over the phone.

"It was good," Betty responded. "He, uh, he cleared some things up."

"Like what the hell is wrong with him?" Veronica asked, her true feelings about Jughead showing through.

"He's going through some things," Betty defended.

"That's not really an excuse," Veronica said back. "He made you cry, B."

"V," Betty sighed, wanting Veronica to forgive Jughead just like she had. "Trust me, he had good reasons. Well, reasons that make sense. He's really trying, V."

"I'm just trying to look out for you, B."

"Ronnie, I love you, but you're starting to sound a bit like Alice."

The next thing Betty heard was Veronica making a series of fake gagging noises.

"Okay, B, I'll stop. But just know that I love you too and you deserve the best."

"Thanks, V. I love you too. See you soon, okay?"

"Okay, B. Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

_Jug: Any chance you'd want to come over for dinner again this Friday? Promise it won't end with me kissing you again._

Betty looked down at the text, contemplating what to say in response. Her face formed the tiniest frown as she read the last sentence. While she hadn't liked all of the awkwardness that had followed the last time that he had kissed her, it would be a lie to say that she didn't want him to kiss her again.

_Betty: That sounds great. Want me to bring dessert again?_

She smiled at the thought of Friday as she placed her phone down and waited for it to buzz again.

_Jug: If you don't mind. You make the best desserts. But only if you want to._

_Jug: Also I still have your container from last time lol_

_Betty: Oh, well now I have to come over_

_Jug: Great to know why youre really coming over Betts_

_Betty: Yep. Just coming over for my container, obviously._

_Jug: Lol. How was your day?_

* * *

_"Hey Jug," Toni said as soon as Jughead answered the phone. He could hear the sigh in her voice._

_"What is it?" Jughead asked. "Is it..."_

_"Yeah," Toni confirmed, not needing him to finish his question._

_"Okay. I-I'll be there as fast as I can," Jughead rushed out as he simultaneously put his shoes on._

_"Jug," Toni said in a tone that made him stop his movements. "She, uh..." Toni sighed. "She... doesn't really want to cross paths."_

_Jughead's face fell. He thought that maybe their break might be over. And even if it wasn't, he didn't think that she would deny him this._

_"I'm sorry, Jug," Toni sighed. "She didn't even want me to call you until after she got discharged. I'm sorry, Jug."_

_The only response that Toni got was a sigh. He knew it wasn't Toni's fault, but he was going to miss his son's birth. Because his wife couldn't stand to see him right now. But he knew that they'd work through it. They always did. But this had to be the _worst_ timing. And the longest-lasting._

_"Jug?" Toni said, re-gaining his attention. "I'm sorry. I'll call you later, okay?"_

_"Okay," Jughead said weakly. As soon as Toni hung up, he slammed his phone shut and threw on the bed. He held his head in his hands as he screamed out loud before he began to cry. His son was being born and he was missing it._

_He walked into the bedroom next door where his daughter was napping despite his scream earlier. As he watched her sleeping, his angered cooled slightly. Watching his daughter was comforting, but it couldn't completely dispel his anger._

**So, I hope we liked this chapter. I guess it was sort of filler, but Jughead and Betty are talking again, so...**

**Opinion time: Probably a dumb question, but should I specifically lable the flashbacks as like flashbacks? Or is it pretty obvious what's a flashback and what's not lol?**

**Anyway, hoped you guys liked it. Thank you so much for readings, reviews are appreciated, and I will update soon(ish lol)!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Announcement: Due to feedback, flashbacks will now be _bolded & italicized_. Hope that makes it less confusing.**

**Also, question for you all: I'm thinking about putting Kevin in the story somewhere, but of course now I'm wondering who to ship him with. I can't decide between Joaquin (season 1, not season 3, obviously), Moose, or Fangs. Why can't the show just give him _one_ cannon ship lol? Anyway, plz let me know who you guys want to see Kevin with. (If it helps, and in case you guys forgot, the other ships I'm using are Bughead, Varchie, and Choni (and Jason/Polly, before he died) and I'm basically keeping what happened in high school cannon-compliant with the show (except they didn't know Jughead).)**

**Thank you so much to all of my readers as well as those of you who have favorited and followed. And a special thank you to both Boris Yeltsin and violet1429 for your comments both on the last chapter and all throughout this story.**

**Hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

7

_**Even from the outside of the trailer, Toni could hear the constant crying of 2 children and she almost knew that something was wrong. But maybe it wasn't and the children were just having a bad morning and Jughead's attempts to soothe them just weren't working. She bounded up the steps and knocked on the door, but got no response. She knocked again, but there was still no response.**_

_**"Jug?" she called through the door. She was now worrying that she had waited too long to check in on him. In her defense, however, the Serpents had kept her extremely busy the past few days.**_

_**"Jug?" she called again, still getting no response. She walked back down the steps the stack of crates with the tacky lawn gnome on top of it, removing the key from the same place it had been when they were kids.**_

_**She unlocked the door and stepped inside, which allowed her to hear the crying even louder without the barrier of the trailer's outer walls. There were empty bottles scattered around the trailer, which Toni realized were the bottles that Jug had bought to celebrate Amy's graduation, hoping that she would forgive him and they'd throw some kind of graduation party for her. Toni hadn't been able to pop his bubble by reminding him that the chances of that were low. But she also hadn't expected him to exercise zero self-control and binge drink it himself.**_

_**Most of the bottles were in the kitchen, as was Jughead. His eyes were closed and he was sitting against the wall, banging the back of his head into it, over and over again.**_

_**"JUG!" She snapped right in front of his face, finally gaining his drunken attention.**_

_**"It won't stop!" He cried, continuing to slam the back of his head into the wall. Toni was almost sure that he had given himself at least a minor concussion by now.**_

_**"It won't stop!" He cried again, springing Toni into action. She knew that Jughead wasn't the type of man who would ever hurt his children. His wasn't his grandfather, or even his father on his bad days. But she also knew that Jughead didn't have a lot of patience when he was drunk.**_

_**She left the man in the kitchen, going into the bedroom of his two children to comfort them. When she had finally succeeded, she re-entered the kitchen to find Jughead no longer banging his head against the wall, although tears were streaming down his own face.**_

_**"You're a mess, Jug," Toni seethed, feeling less compassion for him due to his neglect. "I'm taking them back to my place, since you obviously can't take care of them. Call me when you're sober again."**_

_**"Who do you think you are?" Jughead seethed as Toni walked back to the bedroom. "They're **_**my_ kids. You can't take them. I'm their _father_!"_**

**_"Not right now," Toni retorted. "Right now, you're acting just like FP. Is that really who you want to be, Jug?"_**

**_He was shocked into silence, the words going into some part of his brain that somehow was sober enough to fully comprehend them. He was still silent as Toni exited out the door of the trailer, taking the two young inhabitants with her. Was he turning into his worst nightmare? Was he becoming FP?_**

* * *

"Hey," Veronica greeted him icily on his lunch break.

"Hey," he responded apprehensively. He had no clue what to expect from Veronica at this moment and that scared him. A lot.

"For some reason, Betty's decided to give you a second chance," she icily began, glaring at him. "In my opinion, you shouldn't even be getting one. But if you hurt her again, I'll make you that you don't get a third chance. And that you suffer a world of pain. Understood?"

"Yep," Jughead gulped nervously. "Understood."

"Good," Veronica said with a fake smile before walking away from him. He knew that Veronica had been deadly serious and that scared him.

* * *

"Betty!" Hannah squealed seconds after the door opened for Betty. "You're here! Daddy said that you were coming tonight!"

"Be-ey!" Owen squealed excitedly, seconds behind his sister.

"Hey, you two," Betty greeted as she stepped inside before sinking down to their level, earning her a hug from each of the two children.

"Daddy, can I play with Betty before dinner?" the little girl asked, looking up at Jughead.

"Yeah, there's time before dinner," Jughead responded after trying to read Betty's body for any signs of objection and finding none.

"Yay!" his daughter shouted. Betty shot him a smile over her shoulder, managing to place her container of homemade brownies on the table, as she was dragged into the other room. He returned it before she turned her head away.

* * *

"I'm really glad that you came over tonight," Jughead said as he sat next to Betty in the dark living room. He felt a bit silly, a bit insecure, stating a feeling so plainly and unprompted.

"Me too," Betty agreed. "Thank you for inviting me over," she added, the Cooper manners that had been drilled into her since birth kicking in.

"Anytime," he smiled. "I think there'd be a mutiny against me if I didn't have you over again," he joked, trying to shy away from stating anymore real feelings. It made Betty laugh, reminding him why he had kissed her the last time. Reminding him of the feelings that he wasn't ready to have yet.

"They're really sweet kids," she tells them.

"Yeah," he agrees. "They are."

* * *

Betty came over the next Friday. And the one after that. It was slowly becoming a tradition, like Sunday nights with Toni. It had been on that third consecutive Friday that Jughead had mentioned his therapist again. Namely, the fact that because of said therapist, he had filed divorced papers earlier that week and that his wife (soon to be ex-wife), wherever she was, would soon be served with them.

Betty had wrapped him in a tight hug, telling him that she was proud of him. For a moment, he had felt silly. He was an adult, being told that someone was proud of him . Proud of him because it was a big step. But it was only for a moment. Wrapped in Betty's arms, being told that she was proud of him, he still felt like his soul was naked. But he didn't feel the instant insecurity and need to cover it this time.

* * *

It wasn't until after the fourth consecutive Friday that Betty finally spent time with the Jones family in a place other than the trailer. It was a Saturday morning and Jughead had been getting the little Jones's ready for a trip to the park when Hannah had insisted that her father do her hair like Betty's. After Jughead had managed to successfully secure the girl's hair in a high ponytail, his mind stayed on Betty.

Before he could talk himself out of it, he had pulled out his phone and invited Betty to join them on their park day. He had watched the screen, waiting for a little red "1" to pop up on top of the text icon, before finally sliding it back into his pocket. Maybe Betty was a late sleeper. Maybe her phone was on silent. Maybe it was in another room. Or maybe she was trying to find a way to say no. He was locking the trailer door when his phone had buzzed. And his nerves had finally melted away when the buzz had turned out to be a text from Betty stating that she would love to join them at the park.

* * *

Two children had squealed in joy when they had arrived at the park and seen their favorite blond waiting to meet them. They dragged her over to the play equipment before she had a chance to do anything more than spare a glance at their father, Hannah telling her on the way about how her hair was just like Betty's. Jughead was not separated from Betty for long, however. His daughter had instructed Betty to watch her go down the slide, which meant that Betty (for now at least) was stationary by the slide.

"Thanks for coming along today," he said as he reached her side.

"Are you kidding?" She smiled back at him. That magical smile that made her eyes sparkle. "You saved me from a totally boring Saturday."

"Betty!" his daughter called before he could say anything else. Both of their eyes were drawn away from each other and back to the top of the play structure. "Watch me," she insisted again.

"We're watching," Betty promised before Hannah began her descent down the slide. She reached the bottom, laughing with glee, and then announced that she was going to do it again. They both kept their eyes on her, knowing better than to make her demand their attention again, as she climbed up the play structure to go down the slide again. Their eyes only strayed away to glance at her younger brother, who was happily navigating the monkey bars.

"Do you take them here a lot?" Betty asked.

"I try to take them every week," Jughead answered as his daughter began her descent down the slide again. "Doesn't always happen, though."

"You're a really great dad, Jughead," Betty said, repeating a sentence that she had said to him many times before.

"Well obviously. Tell me something I don't know," Jughead joked.

"Well if you're going to be arrogant about it, I take it back," Betty teased, letting her glance flit to him for a second.

"You can't take it back, you already said it," Jughead smirked, Betty catching the mischevious glint in his eyes.

Betty huffed, unable to think of a witty response.

"Is the great Betty Cooper out of words?" Jughead asked, faking shock. "I thought you were a journalist, Betts."

"Oh shush," Betty said, lightly hitting his side with her hand.

"Ouch," Jughead said, extremely exaggerated. "You hit really hard, Cooper."

"That's because I hit like you, Jones," she fired back, making use of her usually quick wit.

"Betty," his daughter said again, unknowingly saving her father from having to think of a comeback. "Come push me on the swings."

"What's the magic word?" Jughead immediately prompted her. He may not have grown up with any manners, but that didn't mean he planned his children growing up the same way.

"Betty," Hannah began again, "will you _please_ come push me on the swings?"

"Yeah," Betty smiled. "Let's go."

* * *

"Thanks again for coming today," Jughead told Betty after buckling the two car seats in preparation for the drive back from the northside park.

"No thanks necessary," Betty replied. "I had a lot of fun today." She took a moment to stare down at ground below her before opening her mouth to speak again. "Is it too bold of me to invite myself for next week?" She nervously asked.

"No," he smiled back. "I'd love that. And you know that _they_ wouldn't mind."

"I'd love that too," Betty smiled back.

* * *

Betty knocked on the door of Jughead's trailer for the 6th Friday in a row, but this time it didn't swing open. She waited for a minute before she knocked again, louder this time. She heard feet making their way towards the door before it swung open with Jughead behind it, still in his work clothes and looking startled.

"Betty," he said, trying to sound excited. "Sorry. I forgot you were coming."

"Did-did something happen?" She asked as she stepped inside. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jughead quickly responded, walking a few steps before letting out a sigh. "Actually, no. I'm... I'm not okay," he admitted.

"What happened?" Betty asked softly, following him as he sank down onto the couch.

"I-I got the divorce papers back today. She signed them," he signed. Betty waited for him to say more. But when he didn't, she did.

"I thought that was a good thing?" She asked.

"I thought it was too." He sighed again. "But I- Just- Just getting them... It feels different."

"How?" Betty prompted. "How do you feel Jughead?"

"Sad," he admitted. "Angry." A single tear escaped his right eye. "I-I always thought that-" he sighed again. "I know that she left, but I always thought that maybe she was coming back one day. I know that I screwed up, but I-I'm not the only one here. I thought that she'd come back one day. For Hannah and for Owen. She-she's their _mom_, Betts." More tears left his eyes and Betty rubbed large circles on his back. "But she-she doesn't want custody. She just- she just signed it away!" He had leaped up from the couch, his anger becoming his predominant emotion.

"Juggie," Betty said softly, trying to comfort him.

"How- how could she just give up?" Jughead yelled. "How could she not want them?" He questioned, thankfully having the sense to do it quietly. "I don't- I don't understand it, Betts." He collapsed back onto the couch, laying his head down on the blond's lap and letting his tears fall onto her cream-colored skirt. His anger turned to sadness as he though about his own mother. Why hadn't she wanted him?

"It'll be okay, Jug," Betty comforted as she ran her hands through his dark hair. "You are more than enough and everything is going to be okay."

* * *

_**Jughead walked through the door just like he had every other day that week: in a better mood after a good day at the Riverdale Times. Things hadn't been going well between him and Amy lately, but he knew that they were just going through a particularly rough patch. The kitchen and living room were both empty and trailer was silent. He poked his head into their bedroom (although he hadn't been sleeping there lately), but his wife wasn't in there. He checked their daughter's room next, but there was only one person in there and it was a sleeping 23 month-old. The bathroom was empty. His wife was nowhere in the trailer.**_

_**She was probably out with friends. She knew that he hated when she left their daughter alone, even if she was asleep. But it wasn't the first time that it had happened. He pulled out his phone, beginning to grow angry at her as he navigated to her contact and hit the call button. He didn't want to have another fight about this. He would remind her how he hated leaving their daughter alone, she would complain how he was always gone, he would yell back that he was always gone because he was supporting their family, she would complain that she never had any free time because he was always gone, he would yell back that he didn't have any either, she would retreat to their bedroom and slam the door behind her and he would lay on the couch regretting that they had gotten into yet another fight.**_

_**He didn't want to fight with her again, but he was angry at her for leaving their daughter alone. Her phone went to voicemail and he left his message, asking her where she was, telling her how she had left their daughter alone again, demanding to know how she though she was going to take care of a second kid if she couldn't even take care of one. He hung up knowing that he would regret how harsh his message was later when he had calmed down. But he wasn't calm enough to care right now.**_

_**His eyes caught a post-it note taped on the fridge. The brightly colored paper that hadn't been there that morning was covered in his wife's writing.**_

**Jug,**

**I can't do this anymore. I'm staying with Toni. Please don't come by or try to call me. I'll call you when I have the baby.**

**-Amy**

_**He crumpled the note and let it drop to the floor. This wasn't the first time that she had decided to stay at her sister's place. But did she really think that she'd be there till January? Jughead knew that their rough patch wouldn't last **_**that_ long. He just hoped that she would come to her senses soon._**

* * *

**So, mostly filler, but really rough at the end for Jug, bringing up the past feelings with his mom. But he's got Betty and he's working through things.**

**I hope you guys liked! Thank you so much for reading! Comments appreciated and please let me know who you ship Kevin with and if putting the flashbacks in bold and italicized helped. And for those of you wondering: Yes, Toni and Betty will meet soon (given that my crazy brain doesn't decide _hey let's do something totally different_ like this chapter lol). Thanks again for reading and have a wonderful day!**


	8. Chapter 8

**So... I'm back! It feels like I've been forever since I've updated (really, it's been 19 days, but that's still a really long time). Anyway, it's been hard to find solid blocks of time to just sit down and write. I'm also sorry because this chapter is angst and I don't like angst (although I guess there's angst sprinkled all throughout this fic because I'm a realist lol), but it just sort of happened.**

**Anyway, big huge thank you to all of my readers! You guys have given this story almost 3,000 views! Thank you so much to all of you! Also, a very special thank you to all those who have followed and favorited this story (46 follows and 26 favorites, you guys are amazing!). And an even more special thank you to those who reviewed on my last chapter: Boris Yeltsin (thank you so much for your input on Kevin's ship), violet1429 (I love your insights and I have more thoughts for you down in the bottom author's note), and CasperAcx (I definitely want a Bughead baby too, thanks for checking out my story)!**

**Thanks to all for your patience while I took forever to update and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

8

_**A soft knock resonated through Toni's trailer. She took a moment to look herself over in the mirror, noticing that she looked much more disheveled since she had been taking care of her niece and nephew, before walking to the door.**_

_**"Hi," Jughead said hurriedly as soon as the door opened. "Can I see them?" His eyes ere big and hopeful.**_

_**"Are you sober?" Toni asked, still blocking the doorway. Just by looking at him, she was almost certain that he was, which made her smile.**_

_**"Yeah," Jughead nodded. "I'm sober."**_

_**The second that Toni moved out of the doorway, Jughead was in the trailer, heading towards his children. Toni waited in the main living area, giving the little Jones family some time alone. When Jughead re-emerged, he was as empty-handed as when he had entered and headed straight towards his sister-in-law.**_

_**"I'm taking them back home with me." It wasn't phrased as a question, but Toni knew that it was one.**_

_**"And what if you start drinking again?" She questioned.**_

_**"I won't," Jughead promised. "I've completely rid the trailer of all alcohol, I'm going to AA meetings. I've even found a new job." He sighed as he ran his fingers through the few strands of hair that weren't covered by his grey beanie. "Look, I'm sorry for the past few weeks. I know I've made them hard on all of you, but I'd really like the chance to make it right."**_

_**"Jug," Toni sighed, "I know that it's been hard on you too... with what happened. And it's absolutely no excuse you to become an alcoholic, but I know it's been hard for you. And I think that you deserve another chance. But let me make one thing clear," all sympathy drained from eyes as she fixed him with her hardest stare. "If you mess up like that again, I can guarantee that you will not get a third chance."**_

_**Jughead nodded. He knew that Toni was serious and he couldn't help but agree with her, at least a little bit. His children deserved to be in a good family and if he couldn't be that, he didn't see much reason for them to stay stuck with him.**_

* * *

Jughead was already not enjoying himself and he had only stepped into the Wyrm a few seconds ago. The smell of alcohol filled the air, and to his nose it was a horrible stench. The only thing that was making this moment bearable was that Betty was by his side.

Of course, he would've preferred that Betty be by his side in his trailer, just like she had been on the past 6 Friday nights. But Toni had insisted that she _had_ to meet Betty. And that it _had_ to be at her birthday party. The one thing that she hadn't explicitly stated was that Jughead come along. But Jughead knew that that was implied; and even if it weren't, there was no way that he was going to make Betty attend without him. So he had paid the 12 year-old girl that lived in one of the other trailers to babysit for the night so that he could attend a party he didn't want to be at.

He watched the eyes that watched them. The eyes that belonged to bodies covered by Serpent jackets. He knew that it was too much to hope that the Serpents had just forgotten about him. His new (hopefully) reasonably hope was that, other than watching him, they would just leave him alone. He wandered further in, hoping to find Toni so that they could leave. He loved Toni, but her birthday ragers were no longer his thing.

As they waded through the partying crowd, Jughead did not fail to notice the pairs of eyes that solely watched Betty. Those pair of eyes were another reason why there had been no way in hell that Betty would be attending this party alone.

He found Toni after about a minute of searching (which was a minute too long, in his opinion) doing shots at a table, next to some Serpents and a non-Serpent redhead. _Probably Cheryl_, he reasoned as he saw how close she and Toni were.

As if the redhead could read thoughts, her eyes looked away from the table, briefly noticing him before focusing on something to his right.

"Betty?" She yelled before letting out a drunken giggle.

"Cheryl?" Betty questioned back, her eyebrows raising high towards her hairline. "What are you doing here?"

"It's my girlfriend's birthday!" She answered, scooting even closer to Toni and sloppily kissing her less drunk girlfriend on the mouth.

"_Toni_ is Cheryl's girlfriend?" Betty asked, now facing him instead of the couple.

"Yes?" Jughead responded uneasily. The situation was starting to grow awkward and it was making him uncomfortable. "How do you know Cheryl?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"It's a bit complicated," Betty began to explain before Cheryl cut her off.

"We're _cousins_!" The drunk redhead squealed.

"3rd cousins," Betty corrected.

"And Polly and Jay Jay," Cheryl interrupted again before Betty could explain more. For someone who was drunk, Cheryl was following the conversation pretty well.

There was silence when Betty didn't immediately explain Cheryl's comment.

"My sister and her brother used to be a thing," Betty finally explained when he looked at her again, curious for an explanation.

"Oh," Jughead nodded. He remembered Betty mentioning her older sister Polly before. How she was a single mom who lived California and had 6 year-old twins. She had even shown him a picture of them: a blond woman who looked aged beyond her 24 years and two redheaded children. He couldn't help wondering if this Jay Jay was the father of those twins. He also couldn't help thinking about what a weird name "Jay Jay" was. Although he wondered if he even had room to talk, given _his_ real name.

Perhaps the next thing that happened was karma. Karma at Toni for having kept the secret from Jughead. Or maybe it was just that Toni's luck had run out. Maybe it was the universe, determined to remind Jughead Jones that his life was messed up. Or maybe it was just an emotionally abusive mother: drunk, all alone, and deciding that she wanted to tear down her daughter again. However, no matter what the reason was, the phone still rang.

The screen lit up and an annoying ringtone played as the phone vibrating against the table top. Jughead caught a glimpse of one word- _Blossom_\- before Cheryl declined the call. If he had been watching her, he would've seen the disgust on her face, with just a hint of sadness and pain. But instead, he was watching Toni. His eyes narrowed as he focused solely on her, the pieces now coming together. Toni's nervous demeanor, the red hair, "Jay Jay", twins.

"You're dating Cheryl _Blossom_?" He yelled at the small woman he had known for more than a decade. He was filled with rage as he looked at her.

"Jug-" she tried to begin.

"No!" He seethed. "You know what that wretched family did! You know what they did to FP!"

"That was her father, not her!" Toni yelled back, unwilling to let Jughead say another bad thing about Cheryl.

"Same difference!" Jughead yelled back. He couldn't believe what Toni had done. How she had betrayed him. Cut him. Stabbed him in the back. And then right through the heart.

"Really? Let's talk about Betty then," Toni seethed, wearing an angry smirk. "Are you deliberately being a hypocrite or has she not told you who _her_ father is?"

Jughead didn't respond as all his brain power was devoted to dissecting Toni's sentence. Whatever she was insinuating couldn't be true, could it?

"You haven't, have you, Betty Cooper?" Toni smirked when she saw the look on Betty's face. "Do you want to know why exactly you're a hypocrite, Jughead?" Toni asked, directing her attention to the raven-haired man.

He should have told her to stop. He should have told her that it didn't matter. That it didn't change who Betty was. But his curiosity got the best of him, making him remain silent.

"Her father is responsible for Fangs's death. Her father is the _sick_, self-righteous serial killer who murdered our best friend just for doing Jingle Jangle!" Her face was formed into a snarl by now. "So if you're going to hold Cheryl responsible for whatever happened to FP, just think about everything that you're going to have to hold Betty responsible for."

Jughead couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He could barely think. He knew why _Cooper_ had sounded familiar to him now. The Black Hood was Betty's father.

Meanwhile, in the body next to him, Betty's mind was spiraling. Everywhere she looked, all pairs of eyes were on her. She knew that this was the beginning of a panic attack, but she was powerless to stop it. She couldn't control it this time. A few of leather jacket wearing men stepped towards her and it was the last thing she saw before her body shut itself down and she collapsed on the floor of the Southside bar.

* * *

**_Jughead walked through the door after a long day. He had ended up staying late to help re-create the layout after a virus had managed to corrupt their original and although he didn't like having to tell his pregnant wife that he would not be able to help her put their toddler to bed tonight, he knew that they could definitely use the overtime pay he would be getting._**

**_The sight that he saw inside of his trailer melted his heart. His wife was curled up on the couch, asleep with their daughter in one arm and a bottle in the other. He debated letting her continue to sleep but decided to wake her up to sleep in bed instead. He knew how uncomfortable she would be if she slept the whole night on the couch, especially with the developing baby inside her adding to her discomfort._**

**_He gently took the little girl out of her mother's arms and carefully transferred her to her crib. He silently congratulated herself when she didn't wake up at all throughout the process. Going back to his wife in the living room, he gently shook her shoulder, rousing her out of her sleep._**

**_"Hey," he smiled at her when her eyes opened. "You fell asleep feeding Hannah her bottle."_**

**_"Oh," she said, sitting up. "When did you get home?"_**

**_"A couple minutes ago. Sorry I ended up staying so late." He kissed her full, pink lips._**

**_"It's alright," she said, getting up from the couch and beginning to walk towards their bedroom._**

_**"I love you," Jughead said, kissing her again once they were in their bed. He knew that things had been a bit hard for her lately, even though she hadn't told him. He could tell that she was drawing away from him a little, like she always did before they fought. Whatever was gnawing at her, he wanted to fix it. After all, she was his wife. And that's what good wives and husbands did.**_

_**"I love you too," she smiled back before turning away and pressing her back against his body, ready to sleep cocooned in his warmth. As soon as her face sank into the pillow, out of his line of sight, her smile fell. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. And she didn't know if she should. She didn't know if it was worse to just end it now or to hold on for as long as she could bear to. All she knew was that tonight, she didn't want to fight. She needed time to think first. To think about what the right thing to do was. So she told him she loved him, even though she didn't mean it. She pressed her body close to his even though she wanted some space. She wished that she wasn't going to be the one to destroy Jughead Jones's patchworked life, but she knew that she would be. She just didn't know when.**_

* * *

**So, once again, apologies for the angst. Cus this chapter was like nothing but angst. And I know that in the show, Fangs was obviously not killed by the Black Hood. Honestly, I was totally planning for Fangs to be alive. But then this scene happened and I guess I needed something to make the Black Hood killings more personal to Toni (and Jughead). Also, in case I've failed to mention this before (because I probably have), unlike in the show, FP went to prison where he was like shanked to death or something by one of the other inmates (who was paid off by Clifford, of course) before his name was cleared.**

**Also, yes, Betty did have a good reason (in my opinion) for keeping her parentage a secret and we will be finding that out next chapter (unless, of course, I end writing something I totally didn't plan to - like this chapter). And I'm definitely not looking to make Toni like a bitch who's going to end up like arch-enemies with Jughead. I think that Toni was just seriously hurt in this scene because she's whipped for Cheryl and Jughead was verbally attacking Cheryl. And to answer a question that I don't even know if people have thought of: Yes, Toni did work it out before tonight that Betty was Hal Cooper's daughter. But Toni is sort of a chill person who realizes that does not change who Betty is and will totally accept Betty for who she is. And no, Toni did not know before tonight that Cheryl and Betty were connected (but yes, she did know that Cheryl was a Blossom).**

**Anyway, thank you so much for reading guys! I know it took forever to update and was short, so hopefully that won't be happening again lol! Enjoy the rest of your day/night! (Unless you'd like to keep reading about my thoughts on this AU Jughead lol)**

**And my thoughts for you, violet1429: I think that Jughead could definitely still have residual feelings for Amy. I wasn't exactly planning for him to exactly have residual feelings, but this fic just sort of writes itself, so I feel like Jughead having some residual romantic feelings for her is definitely a thing that's going on here. I'm guessing the ending flashback for this chapter is giving you some more things to think about towards this line of thought (and I'm also so glad that I'm getting to the point in the flashbacks where they're still together cus I'm real excited to figure out what actually went down between them lol). As for how Jughead "messed up", it's more just him blaming himself. As far as I've planned, no he didn't really do anything (although he was like a huge player in high school if you want to count that - but he was not a cheater, to be clear). I mean, I definitely can't say anything for sure because sometimes this fic just decides to ignore my plot planning and write itself something totally different lol. But I guess those are my thoughts on it lol. Thank you so much for your insights! I'm glad that someone is like really getting into this!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Yay! An update! ****I've been trying to write this chapter and it wasn't working out and then I decided to just almost completely re-write it and that took a little bit.**

**Does commenting "Please Update" work? Yep. 100%.**

**No beginning flashback this chapter (just excluded it because it was one of the things that made this chapter hard to write).**

**Thank you so much to all of my readers for sticking with this and reading! And a special thank you to violet1429, Boris Yeltsin, and Guest for your comments last chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

9

When Betty woke up, she was in a hospital bed. It wasn't the first time that she had ended up hospitalized after a panic attack, but it had been a couple years since the last time.

"Hey," she heard Veronica's soft voice on her left. She turned her head to see both Veronica and Archie beside her, sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chairs.

"Hey," Betty smiled back, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Almost midnight," Veronica replied, leaning in closer towards her friend. "Cheryl's girlfriend told me what she did," Veronica began apprehensively. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really," Betty huffed, flopping back against her pillows.

Veronica and Archie shared a look before they turned back to her.

"Are you alright?" Archie asked apprehensively.

"No," she sighed. Veronica reached up for her hand and held it in hers, knowing that Betty was on her way to opening up now.

"Toni told the whole bar." Betty began to cry, reliving the experience as well as another less recent one. "I- I was so scared."

"I know, honey," Veronica sympathized, running her thumbs over her best friend's hand. Betty continued to cry as Veronica continued to comfort her.

"I lied to Jughead," Betty continued when she had calmed down from remembering her fear. "And now he knows. And he hates me."

"Did he actually say that?" Veronica asked, knowing that it wasn't hard for Betty to see the worst in herself.

"How could he not?" Betty answered, looking back down.

"First of all Betty, it's almost impossible for anyone to hate you," Archie began, trying to comfort one of his oldest friends with the truth. "Secondly, I think you're wrong about Jughead hating you. He was the one who took you here after you passed out. And he was in here with you when we came in. He was worried about you. And the only reason that he's not here now is because his babysitter was leaving." Betty stared at Archie wide-eyed as she took in this new information. It didn't seem like it could possibly be true.

"And third, Betty," Veronica continued for Archie, "you had a good reason to keep it a secret after... after what happened. You were just protecting yourself, Betty. But I promise that Jughead isn't one of the people who you need to protect yourself from."

"T-Toni said that the Black Hood killed one of his best friends. Did you know that?" Betty questioned, her tears threatening to fall again.

"No," Archie answered, resigned. "Are... Are you afraid of him now, Betty?" He worried that he and Veronica had somehow misjudged Jughead and had introduced Betty to a monster.

"No," Betty answered honestly and almost immediately. Despite what had happened tonight, even though she had questioned whether or not Jughead now hated her, she knew that he would never hurt her. "He would never hurt me, Arch."

"Even if he tried, we wouldn't let him," Veronica once again vowed to protect her best friend.

"I know," Betty smiled back at her.

* * *

Jughead couldn't sleep. There were so many thoughts and emotions running through his head.

He was furious at Toni. She had caused Betty to have a panic attack. A panic attack that had caused Betty to pass out and end up in the hospital. And on top of endangering Betty's health, she was dating the daughter of the man who had been responsible for his father's death. Jughead would probably be the one first to admit that his father had made many, many mistakes in his life. But he hadn't deserved what Clifford Blossom had done to him. What Toni was doing was betrayal.

Was he a hypocrite like Toni had said? He was man enough to admit to himself that yes, he was currently the exact definition of a hypocrite. But he knew that he would never admit that to Toni. Nor would he ever forgive her.

He wondered why Betty hadn't told him about her father. Was it something that she had been planning to share with him later or not at all? He couldn't say that it didn't bother him that she hadn't told him herself. But it also didn't change how he felt about her. He was still worried about her. He was still mad at Toni for harming her. And, he could finally admit to himself, he was still falling for her.

* * *

Betty woke up the next morning in the guest bedroom of Archie and Veronica's apartment. She was glad that the hospital had agreed to discharge her last night after she woke up, but it had annoyed her that Archie and Veronica had insisted that she go home with them. She had always slept better in her own bed. She found her phone on the night stand next to her. She turned it on to see that it was past eleven and she had slept through most of the morning. She also saw a string of notifications. All but one were texts from Cheryl, telling her how sorry Toni was. Betty didn't bother to read them. Her last notification made her heart skip with just one word: _Jughead_. She opened it and saw that it was a short text. _How are you feeling?_ was all that it said, but to Betty it confirmed what Archie and Veronica had been trying to convince her of in the hospital.

* * *

Jughead couldn't do anything normal today. Not even enjoying the brief semi-free time that his children being distracted by the park gave him. Instead of relaxing, he was thinking about Betty. He knew that she was okay since he had texted Archie earlier when Betty hadn't responded and found out that she was fine, just asleep. But he still couldn't stop thinking about her. He wanted to hear her voice. He wanted to see her face. He needed her to help him make sense of things. When his phone buzzes, he almost didn't check it. But he was more than glad that he had when he saw that the notification was a text from Betty.

_I'm fine_ was all that the text said.

_Can I call you?_ He sent it before he could overthink it. Before he could over-analyze Betty's reply and wonder if she was trying to ignore him. He had had less than 10 seconds to consider that possibility before his phone was ringing with a call with Betty. He answered it immediately.

"Hey," he spoke into his phone, smiling without even trying.

"Hey," her voice said back. He could tell that she had just woken up.

"I'm sorry about last night."

"_You're_ sorry?" She was surprised. "You didn't do anything, Juggi- Jughead. I'm the one who lied to you."

"You kept a secret. That's different than lying." He resisted the urge to call her "Betts". She had stopped herself from calling him "Juggie". She probably didn't want them to use nicknames anymore.

"A lie by omission is still a lie." He could tell by the way that she said, with an automatic quickness, that she had probably grown up being taught that over and over again.

"Would you have told me eventually?" He asked the question that had been bugging him the previous night.

There was a pause in the conversation as Betty thought.

"Yes," she finally answered. "Eventually."

"Well then you don't have anything to be sorry for."

"How do you not hate me?" She asked. She knew the old saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth, but she had to know that Jughead was thinking clearly. And if he was, how was he being so understanding and forgiving?

Jughead was at a loss for words. Did Betty really think that he could hate her?

"How could I?" He asked, his voice almost breaking.

"The Black Hood was my father." Jughead wondered if she was trying to convince him to hate her or if she was simply trying to thoroughly answer her question.

"That doesn't... That doesn't change how I- how I feel about you." _Relax_, he reminded himself, _it's not like you're actually telling her how __you feel about her_.

"Thank you," she almost whispered. "For not seeing me differently."

"Nothing that any of your family members have done could change how I see you." He couldn't see it, but Betty's was smiling on the other end. "And, uh, you can totally say no if you want, but, uh, if was wondering if... Well, if you wanted to uh, to join us at the park, I'm sure that no one would be unhappy about it."

"Oh, uh," Betty fumbled for words as Jughead's stomach dropped. "I mean, I'd love to, but, I'm not really feeling up to it today."

"Oh," Jughead said, failing at hiding his disappointment.

"Can I come over after?" She asked, surprising him.

"Yeah. Yes! Of course." It was a wonder that he got all of the words out clearly.

"Okay," Betty replied, smiling into her phone. Jughead was smiling as well.

* * *

_**Jughead looked up from his dinner at his wife. She was still frowning. They made eye contact briefly before he looked down again. In a normal situation, he probably would've asked what was wrong. But knowing that the answer was probably that she was pissed at him for some reason, he didn't particularly want to ask this time. He'd leave her alone and get her some flowers tomorrow. Then maybe she'd finally tell him what exactly he had done to piss her off.**_

_**This plan was foiled when she cleared her throat, causing him to look up at her once more.**_

_**"I think I'm pregnant again." **_**Please be joking_ was Jughead's first thought. But her face was too serious to be joking._**

**_"Shit," he muttered, rubbing his face with his hands. How did he have the incredibly bad luck of their birth control failing twice?_**

* * *

**Short chapter :( Why do I have a habit of waiting forever then posting short chapters?**

**Thanks again for reading, guys! Did you like Jughead and Betty making up or did you feel like it was too quick? (I mean, Hal did kill one of Jughead's best friends.) Let me know in the comments (along with any other thoughts you have) and have a wonderful day, guys!**


	10. Chapter 10

********TRIGGER WARNING: Non-graphic mention of past rape in this chapter.**********

**Hi all, new chapter! (And in just 4 days - yay!)**

**Thank you very much to all of my readers! You guys are amazing and I love you all! And a very special thank you to my reviewers: Boris Yeltsin, violet1429, JMM316, and FatPatricia515 (to answer your question, Betty thinks that Jughead would be mad at her because she has sort of unrealistic expectations due to a past event that will be revealed in this chapter).**

**Also: The beginning flashback is a Betty flashback, not a Jughead flashback.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

10

_**"Hey. Betty!" Betty didn't want to turn around. She didn't want to stop. She didn't want another person to throw an insult at her, to scream at her for what her father had done. She started walking faster. She just wanted to get out of the building so that she could go back to her home where her classmates couldn't harass her.**_

_**"Betty!" She heard whoever it was calling her again. They were closer now, despite her efforts.**_

_**Right before she could get through the doors to exit her high school, someone grabbed her arm. She instantly jerked her arm away from the stranger's grasp while turning to face them.**_

_**"Sorry," Reggie Mantle apologized to her as she rubbed her arm. "I just wanted to talk to you."**_

_**"No," Betty said, trying to be forceful as she turned back towards the door.**_

_**"Please, Betty," Reggie said, trying to get her attention again. "I think that everyone else is shit for the way they've been treating you." Those words stopped Betty from her efforts to leave the school. She hadn't been expecting Reggie to say that kind of thing.**_

_**"Thanks... for saying that," Betty told him.**_

_**"Hey, I know what it's like to have a shitty father. I know that our situations are different, but I want to understand yours," Reggie continued. "Maybe... we could go out tonight?"**_

_**Betty was shocked by his proposal. She had never really known anything about Reggie's home life. And she didn't think that he would ever say that he wanted to understand her situation. And that fact that he wanted to go out with her was also surprising. Maybe she should agree. Reggie seemed to really care and when was the last time that someone had devoted an evening to her? Veronica and Archie were usually busy with each other, Kevin was comforting Moose over Midge's death most of time, and even Cheryl was too busy with Toni.**_

_**"Sure," she said, still sort of unsure of it. But it couldn't hurt.**_

* * *

Jughead was excited when he heard the soft knock on his trailer door. He glanced back towards his children's bedroom to make sure that they were still asleep. Betty had said that she wanted to talk to him alone, so both Hannah and Owen had been down for their afternoon nap for 20 minutes now.

When he swung open the door, he was happy to finally see Betty's face. He immediately wrapped her in an embrace. He couldn't stop smiling every time that he saw her.

"Hi," Betty said, her voice quiet. "Thanks for letting me come over."

"Always."

As soon as she was inside, the first place she went was the old worn-down couch. She beckoned him to sit down next to her.

"I-I need to tell you why I didn't tell you about my- my father."

"You don't need to," Jughead said, reading the apprehension in her body language.

"No," Betty insisted. "It's-it's important."

"Okay," Jughead agreed.

Betty opened her mouth to begin her explanation before she closed it once again, unable to find the right words. Her eyes became watery as the story played through her mind.

"Hey, it's okay," Jughead tried to comfort her. "It's okay. Take your time."

Betty looked up at him, straight into his eyes. Her eyes were so big. Somehow, they were both melancholic and joyful at the same time. She took a deep breath as she continued to look into his dark blue eyes.

"Will you- Will you hold me?" She let out a breath as her eyes didn't break contact with his.

"Yeah," Jughead answered, softly and slightly apprehensive, not even thinking about his words.

Their eye contact was finally broken as she laid down on his lap. His arms stiffed wrapped around her. _Why are you being so awkward?_ He asked himself. He managed to adjust his arms into a less awkward position.

He heard a soft cry from her and began stroking her hair without thinking about it. "It's alright," he said softly. She cuddled closer into him.

"When- when everyone found out who he was..." She took a shaky breath in as Jughead continued to silently comfort her. "He- Some of his victims were- were people I went to school with. And- and everyone h-hated me for their deaths." Her body was shaking ever so slightly as Jughead held her.

"There was... his name was Reggie." She shuddered at the name and Jughead knew that this Reggie had done something horrible. "He- he acted nice. And he- he said that he w-wanted to understand my si-situation." She took a sharp breath in. "He asked if- if I would- if I would go out with him. And- and I said yes." She took one of Jughead's hands, seeking more comfort. He could hear her breathing speeding up, which he knew wasn't good thing, as he continued to stroke her hair.

"It's alright, Betty, it's alright," he tried to soothe again. "Take some deep breaths." He felt her squeeze his hand harder as she followed his advice, slowly returning to her normal breathing pattern. "If this is too hard for you, you don't have to tell me," he reminded her again

"No," she insisted once more. She looked up at him and he could see the tears on her face. Looking back into his eyes, she found the strength that she was looking for. "He took me to this parking lot in the Southside." She shuddered again as she forced herself to take in another breath. "Almost every guy from school was there. And they..." She took in a sharp breath again, followed by a gasping sob. "They..."

"It's okay," Jughead said knowing what she was trying to say. "You don't have to say it." He rubbed circles over her hands and she continued to cry, still unable to talk about it without re-living it. He managed to mutter "it's okay" over and over again while rage consumed his mind. Betty hadn't deserved it. He was outraged that a couple hundred (probably) miserable, pathetic wastes of space had raped the innocent woman in his arms for what her father had done. He didn't realize that he had tightened his grip until Betty was pushing against his arms.

"Jug." She struggled to not feel trapped by his hold.

"I'm sorry," he said, his own eyes watered as he immediately removed his arms from her.

"It's okay," she answered as she wrapped his arms back around her, less tightly than before.

"Betty," he asked after a few minutes, once he had calmed down enough. "What happened to them?" There was still an edge to his voice, which he hated. He didn't want Betty to think that it was directed towards her.

"Sheriff Keller took care of them," she answered, actually smiling a little bit. "I'm fine, Juggie."

"It shouldn't have happened to you," He said, still enraged at Reggie and the other nameless assailants.

"But I'm alright now," she re-assured him, sitting up a little. "Everything's okay, Juggie."

"Still..." He growled.

"Hey," she said, reaching up and cupping his face in her palm. The way that she was looking into his eyes, he was gone. He was gone for her.

"Can... Can I kiss you?" He asked in almost a whisper before kicking himself for making such a request with after what she had just told him. He couldn't believe that he had just let it slip out.

"Yeah," she said back, just as quietly.

"You sure?" He asked, now feeling guilty but still really wanting to kiss her.

"Kiss me, Juggie," she insisted, leaning even closer towards him.

He did just that, pressing his lips against hers gently as he held her in his arms. He had a dreamy smile when he pulled away.

"You can... kiss me harder, you know," Betty said tentatively.

Jughead kissed her rougher than he had before, but not quite as rough as Betty wanted him to. She had been waiting for this kiss for other a month. She had been waiting for a kiss that he didn't regret. And she wanted it to be desperate. And needy. Like those that had waited for so long were supposed to be. She pushed her body closer into his and kissed him rougher before practically shoving her tongue into his mouth.

That was all that it took for them to begin making out on the couch.

* * *

"Betty!" The blond woman heard Jughead's daughter squeal, causing the new couple to break apart from their kissing. "What were you and daddy doing?" Hannah asked, suddenly realizing the unusual position that the adults in front of her had been in. Betty and Jughead were both speechless, trying to think of an explanation.

"Grown-up things," Jughead finally answered.

"Okay," his daughter answered, seeming satisfied before plopping down on the couch next to Betty. "Look. Daddy did my hair just like yours."

"I see. It looks very pretty," Betty told her. Jughead smiled. Watching Betty with his children had always made him smile.

"I'm gonna go check on Owen," he whispered into Betty's ear before getting up from the couch to check on his son.

When he came back, after seeing that his son was still asleep, he saw that Betty, under the direction of his daughter, was getting her drawing supplies out of the cupboard where he kept them. It looked so domestic. He couldn't stop himself from walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her. Because he could do that now. Or at least he thought he could.

Betty gasped before turning around and smiling at him.

"Daddy!" Hannah complained, trying to physically force her father and Betty apart. "_I'm_ playing with Betty right now. Go away!"

"Okay," Jughead said, backing away. "I'm going." He noticed that Betty was trying not to chuckle at his daughter's antics.

As he sat on the couch, he watched Betty draw with his daughter, sometimes looking back to smile at him. How was she so perfect? His time just watching Betty came to an end when he heard crying coming from his children's room, alerting the whole trailer that his second child was now also awake. He saw Betty sit up straight as he got off of the couch, but he shot her a reassuring smile as he passed.

When he came back out of the bedroom, he was rocking a crying, red-faced two year-old on his hip. Betty couldn't keep her eyes off of Jughead as he calmed his son down.

* * *

"Can we, uh, talk about... us?" Jughead asked when he and Betty were finally alone.

"Yeah," Betty agreed, her eyes widening a little.

"I want a second chance at dating you."

"Okay," Betty agreed a moment later. She hadn't been expecting him to be that straightforward, but she liked it.

"You're serious?"

"Yes!" Jughead smiled at her confirmation.

"How are you so amazing?" He mused. "Can I kiss you again?" Betty nodded eagerly. It was rough this time, the way that Betty had wanted it to be the first time.

"You know," Betty began, interrupting their make-out session, "it was..." She blushed and Jughead thought that it was the cutest thing ever. "It was sort of hot earlier, uh, seeing you- how good you always are with your kids."

"Really?" Jughead was slightly dumbfounded by Betty's confession.

"Yeah," she nodded, blushing harder.

"Well, I guess that works out pretty well for me," Jughead chuckled before kissing her again. He was definitely going to use her confession to his advantage.

* * *

_**Jughead was absolutely pissed by the time that his wife walked through the door.**_

_**"Where the hell were you?" He demanded.**_

_**"Out with some friends," she answered.**_

_**"Out with some friends? OUT WITH SOME FRIENDS?" He was furious now! "How long did you leave our daughter alone for?"**_

_**"I left like half an hour before you were supposed to get home. She was already napping."**_

_**"What if I had gotten home late? What if something had happened before I got home. Why the HELL would you leave her alone?" He demanded.**_

_**"Because I'm trying to have a life, Jughead!"**_

_**"Well maybe your 'life' could include actually taking care of our daughter!"**_

_**"Don't say that I don't take care of her. YOU are the one who is always gone!"**_

_**"Because I'm trying to support our family! Because I'm trying to get us ahead! I'm trying to make sure that we don't end up living in this shitty trailer park for the rest our lives! That our kid can actually have a future!"**_

_**"Well maybe you could take just a moment to be in the present! Maybe you could actually be home at a **_**reasonable_ time for once! Maybe YOU could actually take care of her so that I can have a night off for once!"_**

**_"You think that I don't want a night off? You think that I enjoy being gone all the time? That I enjoy working multiple jobs? All that I do is work and sleep and YOU want a night off?"_**

**_"No one made you get a second job, Jughead," she spat at him. "We were staying afloat with just the one. So don't you dare complain to me because _you_ decided to take a second job." She turned and walked towards their bedroom._**

**_"Walk away then! Just walk away from anything you don't like! Cus that'll solve it!" He yelled after her._**

**_"YOU ARE SUCH A DICK!" She screamed back before slamming their bedroom door._**

**_Jughead flopped on the couch, fuming at her, before pulling on his boots and heading towards Pop's for his night shift. After he had spent a few hours serving the few night owls who came in, he would regret their argument. He would remember how much he hated it when they fought and he would allow the issue to just be swept under the rug until something that one of them did brought it back out again. Just how it had worked the other times._**

* * *

**Hey all! Thanks for reading! I hope that the first half wasn't too rough for you all.**

**Betty and Jughead are finally Bughead! Eeeeee! Who's excited? (The answer is everyone, obviously.) This is probably like the closest thing that I will ever write to slow-burn and it has been excruciatingly hard to keep them apart (in the story's timeline, it's been about 4 months since Veronica set them up), so I'm glad that I'm not doing it any longer!**

**Thank you so much for reading, guys! Reviews are appreciated and have a wodnerful night, all!**


	11. Chapter 11

**It's me! Back with another chapter! Please note: I'm n****ot a medical professional, so some details may (slash probably will) be off.**

**Thank you very, very much to all of my viewers (you guys inspire me)! And a special thank you to CasperAcx, Boris Yeltsin, JMM316, violet1429, and Guest for your reviews last chapter! Thanks so much for leaving me your thoughts, really appreciate them!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

11

_**"Jughead. Hey, man." Jughead's first thought was to worry that he had done something wrong. Why else would the boss's son be approaching him?**_

_**"Hey," Jughead answered nervously.**_

_**"I'm Archie." The redhead held out his hand and Jughead shook it.**_

_**"Hi," Jughead said again. He wanted to tell Archie that he knew that, but he was still worried that he was in trouble and he didn't want to get in any more.**_

_**"I, uh, I try to get to know everyone around here. And we haven't really gotten the chance to meet yet."**_

_**"Oh," Jughead answered, realizing that he was actually not in trouble. "Yeah, it's nice to meet you, man."**_

_**"Yeah." Why did Archie smile so much? "So, me and some of the other guys are going out for a beer after work. Do you wanna come with?"**_

_**"Thanks. I appreciate it. But I don't really drink and I actually have to pick up my kids from daycare after work," he declined.**_

_**"How old are they?" Archie asked. It took Jughead a moment to realize that Archie was actually asking about his kids.**_

_**"Uh, my daughter's two and a half and my son is almost six months," Jughead answered, smiling as he thought about his two favorite people.**_

_**"Wow, sounds like a handful. But if you and your wife can ever get a night off," Archie offered, noticing Jughead's wedding band, "we should all go out. My girlfriend Veronica is always saying how we should double date more."**_

_**"Yeah," Jughead answered, growing more uncomfortable by the second. "My wife's on, uh, vacation right now. But, uh, when she gets back, yeah, we should definitely."**_

_**Archie nodded, now uncomfortable as well. He could tell that Jughead was lying. But Jughead himself only knew that he was half-lying. Because if his wife was coming back, then it was just like a vacation, right?**_

* * *

"Jug," Betty said, pulling away as she attempted to get off of the couch. "I have to leave."

"Are you sure?" He smirked with a hint of sadness, afraid that she may actually be sure.

"It's late," she answered.

"Yeah," Jughead sighed, admitting the truth. "Do you want to come over tomorrow?" He asked after a moment. "Is that too soon?" He asked worriedly.

"I just have some things I have to get done tomorrow."

"Okay," Jughead sighed as he walked her to the door. "Drive safe. Please."

"I will," Betty promised. She kissed him one last time before leaving for the night.

* * *

Betty smiled to herself as she fell asleep that night. How had she gotten this lucky? Jughead was understanding and sweet. And he was interesting and funny. And he was a _really_ good dad and for some reason that was also something that she found attractive.

On the other side of town, Jughead couldn't sleep either. He was nervous. Betty was incredible. She was amazing. And he was not the kind of guy who got lucky enough to be with a girl as amazing as Betty. She was so perfect in his eyes and he wasn't the kind of guy who got that lucky.

Did he really think that he was going to be lucky enough to find a woman who was smart and interesting and passionate about some of the things that he was passionate about and good with his children? He didn't get a woman like her.

* * *

Jughead wasn't having a good Sunday so far. He had gotten a good morning text from Betty and that was about the only good part of his day so far. He had been woken up way too early by his son crying, which had turned into a tantrum. And after finally thinking to check his son's temperature, he was now at the urgent care since he couldn't get an appointment at a doctor's office that day. He was currently trying to get his son to stop crying and his antsy daughter to stay behaved while everyone else in the waiting room was giving him dirty looks. He felt like he had been there for forever.

_Betty Cooper: Finished my to-do list for the day :) Still want me to come over?_

He sighed. Of course the day that Betty wanted to come over was also the day that he would probably spend all day waiting at urgent care.

_Wish you could but im at urgent care with owen right now_

He hadn't even put his phone back in his pocket when it buzzed again.

_Betty Cooper: Is he alright?_

_He should be. just had a high fever and the medicine i gave him didnt help_

_Betty Cooper: Poor Owen :( How's the wait?_

_It sucks i keep getting dirty looks because i cant get owen to calm down and hannah is getting antsy_

_Betty Cooper: Which urgent care are you at?_

_The one on hill street why?_

Why did it matter which urgent care he was at?

_Betty Cooper: Do you want some help?_

Jughead was floored.

_seriously?_

_Betty Cooper: Yes._

How was he this lucky?

_Then yes_

* * *

Jughead was about ready to pull out his own hair when Betty got there. Owen still hadn't stopped crying, the dirty looks were escalating, and Hannah was now wandering around the waiting room. He really didn't want to be trying to calm down one kid while trying to wrangle the other.

He had currently lost track of one child and was getting a headache from the other.

He felt someone tap on his shoulder.

"I think this one's yours?" He turned around with a scowl before seeing who was addressing him.

"Betty!" He never thought that he would be so relieved to see any one person. It was a bonus that she had also managed to wrangle his daughter.

"Hey," she smiled. "You okay?"

"No," he sighed. "I'm starting to get a headache and I've been waiting here for forever for someone to finally see him!"

"Yeah, this country's health system sort of sucks," Betty sighed sitting down next to him.

"I'm bored!" Hannah complained, still in Betty's lap.

"I know," he huffed, at the edge of his patience.

"Do you want to watch a movie, sweetie?" Betty asked, pulling out her phone.

"You're really good with her," Jughead commented as soon as his daughter was occupied with the movie as he tried to tune out his son's crying.

"I've babysat Polly's twins before," she explained.

He nodded. It was now becoming an effort to think of a response with his headache.

"Do you want some aspirin?" She asked when he started rubbing his temple.

"Do you have some?" He asked, relieved at the thought.

"Yeah," she nodded, grabbing the bottle out of her purse.

"You're a life saver," he thanked her before dry-swallowing the pills.

* * *

"Owen Jones?" A nurse called, looking around the waiting room.

"Finally," Jughead breathed, getting up. Betty was up too before she realized what she was doing.

"You, uh, you don't have to come," Jughead said, not wanting to push Betty.

"Okay," she nodded, sitting back down.

"Hannah," he called, motioning for his daughter to come follow him.

She briefly looked up from the movie on Betty's phone before looking back at it and curling up closer in Betty's lap.

Jughead sighed. One of the last things that he needed at the moment was Hannah being difficult.

"I can watch her out here," Betty offered.

Jughead briefly ran his free hand through his hair, knocking his beanie slightly askew, before nodding and following the nurse out of the waiting room.

* * *

Hannah was half-asleep by the time that Jughead came back. Without a toddler crying, the waiting room had been relatively quiet. However, Hannah quickly woke up all the way when Jughead came back into the waiting room with Owen still crying.

"Is he okay?" Betty asked.

"He has a bad ear infection," he answered. "I just have to wait at the pharmacy for some antibiotics now."

"Oh," Betty nodded. "Can I help at all?"

"You _really_ want to?" He asked.

"Yeah," she nodded, a bit confused by his skepticism.

"Okay," he nodded.

* * *

They were back in his trailer again and Hannah was back on Betty's lap watching a Disney movie again, this time on the tv instead of on Betty's phone. Owen was finally sleeping after a dose of antibiotics and Jughead wished that he could do the same after the morning that he had had. Instead, however, he sat down on the couch next to Betty and tried to not fall asleep.

He realized that he had been unsuccessful when he woke up halfway through a completely different movie.

Betty turned his way when she felt him stirring beside her.

"Hey," she whispered, not wanting to get shushed by Hannah for talking too loud during her movie.

"Hi," he groggily whispered back. "Sorry I fell asleep."

"It's _fine_," Betty reassured him. "Seems like you really needed it."

"A little," Jughead admitted. "Thanks for being here today."

"You don't have to thank me. You saved me from an afternoon of boredom," Betty said. "Plus, I get to spend time with this little angel," she said louder, hugging Hannah tightly.

How was she still with him?

He couldn't resist leaning closer to kiss her.

"Mr. Jones, kissing me while your daughter's right here?" Betty mock scolded in a whisper. "Are you sure that's wise?"

"Well you make it very hard to resist you," Jughead whispered, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. He saw Betty blush in the somewhat dim living room.

"Stop," she said even though she was still smiling. He complied and settled down sitting next to her.

* * *

It was a Wednesday night and Jughead was finally getting his second chance at a first date with Betty. He enjoyed the new experience of having dinner with her somewhere that wasn't his trailer while someone else was watching his children. Admittedly, the restaurant they were at wasn't as fancy as the one they had gone to with Veronica and Archie all those months ago; but _Pop's_ was much easier on his budget and Betty hadn't objected to it.

"I'm really glad that you agreed to go out with me," he told her. He had his arm around her as they sat on the same side of the booth, eating Pop's classic burgers and fries.

"Well how was I going to say no?" She asked, smiling and leaning into him more.

"You make me sound so charming," he said, making her laugh.

"Do you know what makes me really happy?" She asked.

"No?" He shook his head, confused.

"That I can do this now," she answered, quickly kissing him before he could even think.

"Agreed." He brought her in for another kiss. He kissed her again before it verged into making out territory.

"We should stop. Pop probably wouldn't appreciate us making out here," Betty said, pulling away.

"I don't think he would mind _too_ much," Jughead argued, wanting to keep making out with her.

"Or," Betty countered, "we could finish up here and then do this somewhere more private."

"Betty, my trailer isn't going to be any more private. You know that Hannah is basically obsessed with you at this point," Jughead argued.

"Who said anything about your trailer? I was thinking we could go back to my apartment," she answered, making Jughead's eyes widen a little bit. He had never been to her apartment before.

"Okay. Yeah," he nodded.

* * *

_**Jughead tuned out the conversation when his wife began telling the fourth story about someone else he didn't know but that the other 2 people at the table went to school with. He was starting to regret this double date. Honestly, was high school gossip the best thing that they could talk about? He thought back to his daughter at home. Why was he paying a babysitter so that he could hang out with one of Amy's more distant friends and listen to gossip about people that he didn't know?**_

_**But Amy seemed to be enjoying it. He knew that she missed things like this. Things like being a normal teenager, catching up with a friend, going on double dates with friends. He knew how much of this she had given up to be a mother to their daughter. And really, paying a babysitter and listening to gossip that was important to her was the least he could do. The least he could do was to help her enjoy their night off. Even if he would've preferred to spend his night off finally finishing reading his book or catching up with Sweet Pea. Or maybe even napping.**_

**_But the least that he owed her was to be a good husband._**

* * *

**Hope you guys loved the fluff (and didn't mind the weak flashbacks lol)! I didn't really have any idea what to do for this chapter, and then I sort of just started writing this, so...**

**Anyway, thank you so much to everyone for reading! You guys are all super amazing! Reviews are always appreciated and have a wonderful day, all!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

12

_**Jughead struggled to pour his morning cup of coffee as he tried to rock his 8 month-old son back to sleep. He hated when his son woke up before going to daycare. He didn't want to have to deal with his son's crankiness while also trying to get his daughter ready.**_

_**He couldn't understand why his son wouldn't calm down, but now his daughter had joined in as well. He had a small urge to have a drink. To run away. To escape this moment. But despite how strong the urge was, he knew that he wasn't going to.**_

_**He breathed a sigh of relief when Owen fell asleep again. However, he let out a sigh of frustration when he realized that his troubles did not end when he put his son down in his carrier. He spent 20 minutes looking for Hannah's left pink sparkly sandal because she had somehow lost it and she refused to wear any other pair of shoes. He eventually got her to let him put her sneakers on her before finally getting both of his children into the car.**_

_**They were about halfway to the daycare when Hannah started crying again because she decided that she wasn't happy wearing the sneakers anymore and would only wear her sandals.**_

_**"I miss mommy!" She cried while kicking the back of his seat.**_

_**"Me too," he sighed as he continued to drive. "Me too."**_

* * *

Jughead thought that there was nothing (besides parental responsibilities, of course) that could've kept him from making out with Betty. But seeing Betty's apartment for the first time was giving him a reason. He had never realized how much someone's home revealed about them until now.

The kitchen looked like one of those fake rooms that furniture stores set up. The counter tops were spotlessly clean, all the appliances were neatly placed, and the sink was empty unlike his constantly overflowing one.

The living room looked more personal. The furniture was white and the coffee table was a glass top; but there was a teal blanket hung over the back of the couch and he could see a coffee mug sitting on the table.

He spotted a window seat near the back of the apartment, overflowing with pillows and situated next to a slightly messy, overflowing bookshelf. It was the only place that didn't look at all like a showroom.

The apartment looked like it had been decorated by a Stepford wife and her rebellious teenage daughter.

Betty was kissing him again before he had time to finish looking around. And Betty's tongue was one of the few things in this life that he would describe as phenomenal.

They moved to her couch and his mouth began to wander to her neck. She was soon straddling his lap and his body was reacting to it. She ran her hands over the buttons of his shirt but made no attempt to undo them. It made him wonder if she had even gone further than this before or if Reggie had left her afraid to.

"Betty," he said, gaining her attention. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yeah," she nervously nodded after a moment. She bit her bottom lip and he rubbed her back to try to comfort her.

"Have you ever done anything, uh, sexual after... after what happened to you?" He asked gently.

"A couple times," she answered, looking into his eyes. "I'm- I'm sorry that we're not-"

"No. No, don't apologize-"

"I just need a bit more time, Juggie."

"Betty, don't _ever_ apologize for not wanting to have sex... I'm not ready to either, honestly. But even if I were, you _never_ need to apologize."

"You're not ready to either?" Betty asked, surprised. When Jughead had asked her about sex, she had assumed that it was because he wanted it.

He hugged her body tight against his before he answered.

"I don't want to have another kid by accident," he quietly explained with a sigh. He felt guilty saying it, like it made him a bad father. "I- I love my kids. I promise. But..."

"I know," Betty murmured when he didn't finish.

They were silent for a while, just holding each other close.

"Can we... go back to making out?" Jughead asked, slightly nervous that Betty might think he was too focused on that.

"Yes," Betty smirked before attacking his lips again.

* * *

"Hey," Jughead kissed Betty hello as she entered his home on Friday.

"Hi." She couldn't _not_ smile when she was around him.

"Betty!" They both heard the familiar squeal that they had been expecting. Hannah was jumping into her arms less than a second later and her brother was close behind her, yelling his new favorite adult's name and trying to launch himself into her already full arms.

"Betty's gotta put your sister down first, buddy," Jughead said, stopping his son from trying again. Hannah was soon set down, allowing Owen to be picked up.

"Betty, come see what I drawed today!" Betty was dragged toward the children's room, Owen still in her arms, before Jughead could tell Hannah to stay in the kitchen for dinner.

He waited a few moments, semi-selfishly, before following. He could never get enough of seeing her with his kids. He watched from the doorway as his girlfriend listened to his daughter talk about her unicorn drawing.

"Hey," he said, knocking on the door frame after a few minutes. "Dinner's ready in the kitchen."

He barely had the chance to smile at her before his kids were vying for her full attention again. He couldn't blame them, though. Betty was amazing.

He couldn't stop looking at Betty all through dinner.

"What?" She asked when she caught him.

"Nothing," he said, looking down. Why was he being a weirdo?

Later that night, he watched as Betty finished reading a fourth bedtime story to his kids.

"My mommy got me this one," Hannah said as she handed Betty a fifth book. Betty was silent and surprised. Jughead had never really told her much about their mother.

"Yeah, she gave you that for Christmas a couple years ago," Jughead broke the silence, saving Betty.

"I know, daddy," Hannah said before turning her attention back to Betty. "You have to open the book to read it," she explained, not knowing that Betty was frozen for a different reason.

"Silly me," Betty said, recovering and opening the book.

* * *

"Juggie, will you tell me about their mom?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Finally! An update (after waiting more than a month)! Thanks for hanging in there with me! I've been super busy with school and life, but hopefully future updates won't take this long.**

**Anyway, thank you so, so much to all of you for reading and hanging in there! And a special thank you to Boris Yeltsin, Guest, and Lunabugheadshipper for your reviews on my last chapter (and also a special thank you to Boris Yeltsin, CasperAcx, Guest, FatPatricia515, another Guest, JMM316, , and a third Guest for your reviews on chapter 11 since I forgot to do these thank you's when I published chapter 12)!**

**Heads up: This chapter contains (poorly-written) semi-explicit sexual content.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

13

"Juggie, will you tell me about their mom?" Betty asked after both his children were asleep. Jughead was silent, mouth slightly open, as he thought.

"Okay," he nodded, just as Betty was about to apologize for making him uncomfortable. "What do you want to know?"

Betty sucked in a breath before asking her question. "Do they know what happened?"

"No," he sighed, leaning back against the couch. "We split before Owen was born, so he doesn't remember her at all. And when Hannah asked, I told her that her mom was just... going somewhere else for a while."

"So does she think she's coming back?"

"I don't know," Jughead sighed. "At the time, I thought that maybe she might come back at some point."

"I'm sorry," Betty said softly. "Do you still want her to come back?"

"No," Jughead answered after thinking for a while. "We were- Right before she left, we were just fighting all the time. And I'm glad that they won't be growing up around that. It can really mess a person up." Betty nodded in agreement, remember how her own parents had never gotten along.

"She was Toni's sister?" Betty asked and Jughead nodded in response. "Is that how you met her?"

"Yeah," Jughead answered. "Toni and I had known each other since we were babies and Amy was two years younger, but she was there from time to time."

"How long did you two date?"

Jughead sighed, looking down for a moment before looking back up. "There are a lot of things in my past, Betty, that I should have told you about earlier. I'm not who I was back then. I've changed. Having a kid does that to you, I guess," he paused and even managed to chuckle a little. "You are one of the best things in this world, Betty, and I wish that I had lived a life before this that was good enough to deserve you. So before you leave me, please just let me tell you everything that you need to hear."

"I-I'm not leaving you, Juggie," Betty said in exasperation. "And you _do_ deserve me. You _do_. I don't think who you used to be could ever change my mind, but I'm ready to listen."

"You've heard of the Southside Serpents, haven't you?" He began and Betty nodded. "I used to lead them. For 2 years." He paused, exhaling, as he watching Betty's eyes go wide with the new information. "My grandfather was one of the founding members and after the bastard drank himself to death, my dad took over the gang. Ran it for quite a while. Until he got arrested after being framed for the Blossom murder. And then I started running the gang."

He paused to take a breath as Betty continued to sit there and wait for more, surprisingly understanding. He looked down in shame, knowing what he was going to say next, before he continued.

"I became an egotistical dick, Betty," he finally admitted with shame. "I thought that because I was Serpent King, I was suddenly so important and high above everyone else." He tentatively reached for her hands, wanting the strength that holding even a piece of her would give him but also afraid that she might rejgect him. He didn't look up as he grabbed her hand. She didn't move away. "I didn't do girlfriends. I just slept around with basically every girl at Southside High."

He dared to look up for Betty's reaction as he felt her pull away a little. He could see a hint of anger simmering in her eyes. He had hoped that this wouldn't be how she reacted, but he somehow knew that he wouldn't get that lucky.

"I started sleeping with Amy at a Serpent party we had one night, right at the end of summer. I hadn't even thought about her in that way before. But I was pretty drunk, she just started kissing me out of nowhere, and I went along with it." He sighed and rubbed over his face with one hand. "And then it happened again. And it kept happening. And I was such a dick. She kept pushing me to be exclusive with her and I..." He took a gasping breath as a single tear of shame fell. "I would just laugh and tell her that I'd sleep with whoever I wanted to." He didn't dare look up before continuing, knowing that Betty's expression would not be kind after what he had revealed.

"It was the middle of March when she told me that she was pregnant. And I had the audacity to ask her how I could be sure that it was mine." He paused as the memory of that day continued to play in his head. "She screamed at me, because we both knew that I was the only one she'd been sleeping with, and then she walked away crying. I just sat outside. Smoked way too many cigarettes. I finally talked to her a week later." He paused again before continuing. "I wanted her to get an abortion. She didn't want to. She said she was going to raise the kid. And she asked me if I was going to do it with her or if I was going to be just like my mother and leave." Jughead couldn't breathe for a moment, as the pain he had felt when Gladys first left made itself known again, just as it had on the day when Amy had brought her up.

"Jug," He heard Betty say softly, feeling a hand on his back. It was then that he realized that he had been noticeably gasping for air. The anger in her eyes was still there, but there was a touch of tenderness as well.

"Sorry," he apologized, his breathing returning to normal. "I, uh, I married her that summer. And then I- I left the Serpents when Hannah was born," he continued after a few seconds. "It- Seeing her, actually here, for the first time was... It was different from before she was born. And I just knew that I didn't want to disappoint her and that I didn't want her to grow up how I had. So I quit the Serpents, which Amy was annoyed about. I managed to get a job writing for the Riverdale Times. And then later at Pop's as well. She was... annoyed that I was gone all the time. I was convinced that I was doing what was best. And the- the money was good, of course. Necessary. But she ended up basically taking care of Hannah all by herself. And I just kept believing that I was right and I kept ignoring our issues. I- I convinced myself that it could work if we just gave it time. If we just stayed together. And then she got pregnant with Owen." He sighed, remembering what had been the end of the end that he hadn't known was coming.

"She wanted to get an abortion and I wanted her to keep him. Hannah had- she had been difficult, definitely, but I'm glad that we had her and the thought of, uh, of having another worried me, but... I was excited for it too. And, we did what I wanted. Then," he took a deep, shuddering breath, "3 months before Owen was born, Amy left. I came home and found this note from her saying that she was done and she was staying with Toni and not to contact her. And she said that she was going to call me when she had Owen. She didn't." He was trying to hold back tears now. "Toni- Toni called and- and-" a gasping sob came out of his lips. "I missed my son's birth because Amy couldn't stand to see me." He couldn't hold it back anymore. He began crying. He still didn't look up as he felt Betty's arm around him, trying to soothe his pain.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, wiping at his face.

"It's okay, Jug." He dared to look up at her again and found sympathy in her eyes. Her expression was softer now. "That's a horrible thing to happen." Jughead nodded along, silently.

"Toni called me again, after Amy had been discharged. I got to see my son for the first time. And bring him home." He shed a few tears again, but they were tears of joy this time, remembering when he had finally gotten to bring his son home. He smiled. "He was this tiny little guy, really just cried and slept. And it was stressful as hell and deprived me of _any_ good sleep. But it was... It was one of the best things in the world, finally having him in my arms." It was true. "I went to Amy's graduation, that same year. I bought a bunch of booze, hoping that we'd make up and have some kind of graduation celebration or something. She basically told me to fuck off. I went home, drank it all myself." He was crying again, this time in shame. "I- I neglected my kids to- to become my father. To drown myself in the bottom of a bottle. Toni came knocking at my door, I don't know how many days later. She- she saw the state that I was in and-" He couldn't continue. He had been a terrible father. He couldn't admit that to Betty. Even though he was sure that she wouldn't him see her again after everything that he had revealed about his past. He couldn't.

"Juggie," he heard Betty's soft voice. "Please," she asked, wanting to know everything. And he couldn't say no to her pleading eyes. She deserved to know the truth.

"She took them back to her trailer. I don't remember a lot- I was- I was- I was so drunk. But, something along the lines of I could get them back when I was ready to be a good father again." He took a breath before before beginning that part of his history that was at least semi-redemptive. "So, uh, I started going to AA. I got rid of all the alcohol in the trailer. I got a job again, with Fred Andrews, since I lost the one at the Riverdale Times for not showing up. And I brought Hannah and Owen back home. And... fixed everything."

"Is that why I've never seen you drink?" Betty asked. Jughead nodded.

"I _never_ want to be that man again." He was surprised when he felt Betty's embrace, after everything that he had confessed.

"You are _so_ strong, Juggie," Betty explained when he looked up at her.

"No," he shook his head. "No, Betty, I'm not strong. I let myself fall to my lowest points."

"And you came back from it, Juggie." He watched her pretty lips stay open as she took in a breath. "I love you, Juggie. I _still_ love you." He couldn't believe what she was saying. She _couldn't_ still love him. "Juggie." His eyes re-focused on her lips as they moved. "Can I kiss you now?" He nodded before he could even think about it and her lips were on his.

He welcomed her warm body crawling into his lap as her tongue entered his mouth. "I love you, Juggie," she told him again as she moved her mouth to lay kisses across his collarbone.

"I don't deserve you," he softly murmured, shedding a few tears.

"You do," she argued, looking straight into his dark blue orbs. "You are so wonderful, Juggie. And you deserve to be happy. Do I make you happy?"

"Yes," he answered immediately. "_So_ happy."

"Then you deserve me," she answered, not dropping her gaze at all. "Say it, Juggie," she said softly, asking him to believe what she had told him.

"I deserve you," he said shakily, quietly.

"Again," she commanded.

"I deserve you," he said again, more firmly, and he began to deserve you.

"You do, Juggie," she confirmed, dropping her head again to suck on his neck. "Juggie," she whispered into his neck, "can we... can I..."

"What?" he asked softly.

"I want to touch you," she said, looking him in the eye without any shame. His own eyes went wide at her request. _Betty Cooper_ wanted to _touch_ him. "Sorry," she apologized, started to pull away from him. It wasn't until then that he realized that he had been silently staring at her for longer than he had thought.

"No," he quickly reassured her, pulling her back towards him. "No, I'm sorry. I- I want that Betty. I was just- It just caught me off-guard a bit to hear that. But yes- _hell_ yes you can touch me, Betty. Anytime you want to," he said, throwing in a smirk at the end.

Betty smiled and went back to kissing him as she slowly moved her hand down his body. Her hand paused at the top of his jeans. He wanted to tell her to keep going. To touch him. But as much as he wanted to do those things, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. He didn't want to push her to do anything she didn't want to. He didn't want to betray all the trust she had put in him. Finally, her hand moved, un-buttoning his jeans, and he couldn't help it that a certain body part twitched in anticipation.

"Looks like someone's excited," Betty smirked as she pulled down his zipper.

"Well you _excite_ me," he smirked back, making Betty blush slightly. His focus on her blush was broken when she felt her hand inside of his boxers. "Betty," he gasped out, trying very hard to prevent himself from thrusting into her hand.

"Yes?" Betty smirked, moving her hand up and down along his cock.

"You feel so good," he moaned out, now unable to resist the urge to thrust.

"Do I?" Betty smirked.

"Yes," he moaned back. He had thought that Betty would be shy, sexually, but she wasn't. She was bold and confident and _extremely_ sexy. "Betty." He knew that he couldn't hold off for much longer. "I'm close."

"_That's_ what I wanted to hear." He couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. And it was just bringing him closer.

"Betty," he panted out, "I'm so close." His release came before her response. When he had recovered, he looked down at Betty's hand, which he had made a mess of. He was frozen when she brought it up to her mouth, licking it clean from his release. If he had had more stamina, it would've been enough to make him hard again.

"You are so fucking sexy," he sighed as he pulled up his boxers and re-zipped his jeans. He watched her cheeks turn pink with an adorable blush. "I love you, Betty."

"I love you too, Juggie," she responded, giving him a sweet kiss.

"And, maybe, if you want to... I could return the favor?" Betty's eyes widened at his suggestion, surprised but considering it. "I'm sorry, Betts. I went too far."

"No, no," she re-assured them, mimicking their situation from earlier, but in reverse. "You just caught me off-guard."

"Betts-"

"No, I want to, Juggie. I really want to," she answered.

"You're sure?" He asked.

"Yes. Touch me, Juggie." She took his hand, placing it on her body and slowly bringing it down.

"I think I'd rather taste you," he smirked, catching her by surprise.

* * *

**Thank you all so much for reading and sticking with me! I wanna say that I'm not completely happy with how this chapter turned out (mostly happy with the content, but not really happy with the writing style). There are some chapters where I realize "wow, these events really should've happened earlier" so that makes those chapters a bit harder to write (plan better, right?)**

**Anyway, thank you so much again! Don't know when the next update will be, but hopefully it will be timely. And if you guys have any theories or things you want to happen, share them with me. Don't have this story completely planned yet, so always open to ideas. Thanks again, all!**

**(Also, if you guys are on archiveofourown, I cross-post all my works on there - same username, same work titles - and it's actually my preferred site because I like their tagging system. So if you prefer that site as well switch over to following me on that one.)**


	14. Chapter 14

**So it has been literally forever since I've updated (actually, it was apparently November of last year, but that basically counts as forever). Major thanks to any and all who are still reading! Excuses: Writer's block, school, etc - take your pick. Hopeful that next time won't take nearly as long.**

_For those of you that have forgotten what's happened so far in the story (because it's been forever), here's a quick re-cap: This is a bit of an AU. Jughead didn't grow up with Archie, Betty, and Veronica (although he did grow up with Toni and the other Southsiders). He is a 22-year-old single father to a 4-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son. He works at Andrews Construction, where Archie's fiance Veronica keeps trying to set him up with her friend Betty Cooper, who's an investigative journalist. Even though his wife, Toni's younger sister, left him and their family 2 years ago, he's still reluctant to go until Toni convinces him to take a chance. Veronica finally gets the chance to set them up. After the date, Jughead realizes that he likes Betty but he's not ready to be date again; they agree to be friends. After quite a few weeks of friendships (and Betty getting a feeling that Jughead may like her as more than that, but being totally unsure if she's imagining it or not), he invites her to his home for dinner and to meet his children. The kids love Betty, Jughead's a great dad and Betty's definitely into that; they end kissing after his kids fall asleep, Jughead apologizes and runs away because he feels guilty about kissing her (because he's still technically married - even though he might as well be divorced). Betty is hurt and confused and cries to Veronica. Later, Jughead texts Betty an apology and then convinces her to let him try the apology again, in person. They meet at _Pop's_ and Jughead apologizes, admits that he's started seeing a therapist and that he likes her but he's still not ready to start anything yet but wants to keep her as a friend. They start a tradition of Friday night dinners at Jughead's trailer. Jughead files for divorce (on advice of his therapist). They start a tradition of Betty joining them at the park on Saturday mornings. Jughead gets the divorce papers back and is relieved that she signed them but a bit upset that she didn't fight for custody of their children at all. Betty and Toni finally meet at Toni's birthday party (held at the Whyte Wyrm), where Cheryl also happens to be (because she and Toni are dating). Jughead finds out that Cheryl and Betty know each other becuase they share a niece and nephew before he realizes that Cheryl is a Blossom and he gets mad a Toni for dating a Blossom (because Clifford forced FP to take the fall for Jason's murder and in this one, FP was shanked to death about a week into his prison sentence). Toni fires back, arguing that Cheryl is not her father and reveals that Betty's father is the Black Hood. Betty has a panic attack, passes out, and wakes up in the hospital with Archie and Veronica by her side. Betty worries that Jughead hates her now for keeping her father's identity a secret, but Archie and Veronica tell her that he doesn't, even revealing that he was the one who took her to the hospital. The next day, Betty calls him to apologize, Jughead forgives her, and then they agree for her to come over because she wants to tell him exactly why she didn't tell him about it from the start. At his trailer, Betty reveals to him that she doesn't tell people about her father because she was raped by a classmate back when her father's identity was first revealed. They end up kissing/making out and later they talk, Jughead asks for a second chance at dating her, and Betty agrees. Later, Betty and Jughead go on a date to _Pop's_ and end up going back to her apartment afterwards. Jughead, thinking that Betty is attempting to initiate sex, asks her about it and Betty reveals that she's not ready to have sex with him yet and he reveals that he isn't either (because he doesn't want to accidentally have another baby). On Friday night, after their usual dinner, Jughead's daughter asks Betty to read her a story and mentions that her mom gave her the book, prompting Betty to ask Jughead to tell her about his ex-wife later that night. He tells her that she was two years younger than him, that he was sort of man-whore in high school who slept with whoever whenever and that he and Toni's sister didn't become exclusive or start dating until she told him she was pregnant. He also reveals that he was the leader of the Serpents, which is why he was so full of himself that he thought he was too good for a girlfriend. He married her a couple of months after he found out that she was pregnant. He decided to leave the Serpents when his daughter was born. He worked 2 jobs to support the family and was hardly ever home. He and his wife were fighting a lot. A couple months before his son was born, his wife left to go stay with Toni. He didn't get to be at the birth because his wife didn't want to see him, but he did get to bring his son home. A couple months after that, his wife graduated. He attended her graduation, hoping that he could convince her to come back to him, but she told him no and that she was getting out of Riverdale. He went home and drank the crap ton of alcohol he had bought, believing that they would make up and he would throw her a graduation party. Toni came by a couple days later and took his children after seeing that he was ridiculously drunk and not at all currently capable of taking care of them. After that happened, he stopped drinking, went to AA, and got a new job at Andrew's Construction (seeing as he had been fired from his old ones for not showing up because he was super drunk), and got his kids back from Toni. Jughead thinks that after sharing his low point, Betty won't want to be with him anymore, but she still does. They make out, Betty gives him a hand job, then he returns the favor ;) and after that long summary, we're back to current time in the story. Enjoy!_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

14

"Jug," Betty said softly as they laid on his bed, "will you tell me about your mom sometime? And I'll tell you about mine?"

"Yeah," he nodded, keeping eye contact with her. "Sometime, Betts." He pulled her body into his, wrapping his arms around her. There was silence before Betty finally spoke again.

"It's getting late," she muttered. "I need to go."

"No. Stay," he sleepily muttered back without thinking. His eyes widened at the same moment as Betty's, realizing what he had said.

"We can't," she sighed before Jughead could explain that it had been a bit of a slip of the tongue.

"I know," he responded instead, now feeling regretful about it himself. "What if we could?" He sighed wistfully, realizing now how much he really wanted that.

"You wouldn't be sleeping at all." Even in the dark, he caught her wink.

"Betts-"

"I thought you wanted to." He could hear the slight waver in her voice even as she tried to sound neutral.

"I do. But..." He paused, thinking about what his next words might be. "I just don't want you to overdo it."

He had chosen the wrong words.

"You don't want me to overdo it!?" she exclaimed, putting distance between the two of them."I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you were in charge of me!"

"No, no. I just meant..." He trailed off, expecting her to cut him off. But she didn't.

"What did you mean?" She asked tensely, arms crossed over her body.

"I... I just want you to be okay," He finally finished.

"I _am_ okay. You can stop walking on fucking eggshells." Her arms remained crossed, her stance still tense.

"I'm sorry," he sighed out, tentatively approaching her, hoping she wouldn't back away. "If... if you say you're okay, you're okay."

"Of course I am!" She took a breath. "Jug, I've gone through therapy for this. I'm perfectly fine. and if you can't wrap your head around that-"

"I can!" Jughead was quick to interrupt. "I can, Betts." He was barely inches away from her now. She remained stony-faced for a moment before her expression changed.

"Prove it?" Her mouth quirked up slightly, her voice had a playful lilt.

His body finally made contact with hers as his hands rested on her hips.

"You'll tell me if you're uncomfortable. Or if you need anything." He remained in his position, un-moving, waiting for Betty to answer him.

She nodded, smiling and giving him a sweet kiss, before deepening it and placing her hands on top of his as she moved them down.

* * *

The next morning, back at her own apartment, Betty heard a knock at her door. As she walked towards the door, she hoped that whoever it was wouldn't take up too much of her time, as she was planning on heading over to the park soon, as had become her normal Saturday routine. Looking through the peephole, as she always did before opening the door, she saw Cheryl on the other side.

"Cousin Betty!" Cheryl was talking as soon as the door opened. "So you _are_ alive. All my un-answered texts led me to believe otherwise." She stood there, arms crossed and hip jutted out, silently demanding an explanation.

"It's been a busy week," Betty defended.

"Too busy to let your dearest cousin know that you're still alive?" She demanded.

"I'm sorry," Betty apologized, almost reflexively.

"You're forgiven, dear Bettykins," Cheryl answered, waving it off. "What I'm really here about is my TT."

"Who?" Betty asked. She was used to Cheryl's nicknames for people, but she still couldn't think of who "TT" would be.

"The aunt of your man's little mini-me's?"

_Toni_. Betty should've been able to guess. Who else would be Cheryl's TT?

"Betty," Cheryl softened, a rare occurrence for her. She rarely showed the human under her tough exterior. "TT thought that she was just proving a point to Jughead. She felt horrible after I told her about what happened in high school. She really regrets what she did, Betty. She's so sorry. We- we both are."

"I know," Betty sighed. "Still was frightening," she mumbled.

"I know, dearest cousin, I know," Cheryl cooed sympathetically. "But she really didn't mean to, Bettykins."

"I know, Cher," Betty told her again. "And... and I don't truly blame her."

"Thank you, cousin," Cheryl smiled. "But, speaking of my TT, maybe you could talk to your emo-wannabe boyfriend about stopping ignoring her? Please, dearest Bettykins?"

Betty had never heard Cheryl beg that much before. Especially for someone else. It was nice to see.

"I will, Cher," Betty promised.

* * *

"Cheryl came by my place this morning," Betty said quietly as she and Jughead watched his children play from a few feet away.

She watched Jughead's mouth turn into a frown as he remained otherwise motionless and said nothing.

"She wanted me to convince you to stop ignoring Toni?"

Jughead sighed, running his hand through the small amount of hair not covered by his gray beanie.

"She didn't run away from the trouble? Frame someone else for it?"

"Jug-"

"What? She's a Blossom after all," he spat out.

"She hates the Blossoms just as much as you do!" Betty fired back, starting to get angry on Cheryl's behalf. "You can't keep on holding her last name against her. Unless you want to hold mine against me."

She heard Jughead sigh beside her.

"You're right," he admitted after a long silence, avoiding her gaze by looking down. "She's not Clifford Blossom."

Silence passed between them as Betty waited for him to say more. But when he didn't, she finally spoke again.

"Jug," she spoke softly, "what's up with you and Toni?"

"I thought Cheryl told you: I'm ignoring her," he scoffed.

Betty sat silently, not wanting to push him.

"She dated a Blossom, Betty. She knew what they did - she was there!" Jughead paused to take a breath, calming down slightly. "And she hurt you. She caused you a panic attack - you passed out."

"And it was frightening, but I'm okay now. You don't need to hold a grudge on my behalf." She grabbed one of his hands, softly rubbing small circles with her thumb. "And I know that Toni dating a Blossom must have been like a knife in the back. FP Jones was your father, wasn't he?" Jughead nodded in answer, still not looking at Betty. "You have every right to be upset at her, Jug." At this, Jughead perked up slightly, not expecting those words to come from Betty. "But maybe just give her a chance to explain before you cut her out. She's important to you, isn't she?"

Jughead slumped, knowing that Betty was right but not wanting to admit it. Toni had seen him at his worst. She had declared him unfit to take care of another human being. And despite seeing him like that, she had been on his side the whole time. She had taken care of his children while he got his act back together. She had still been able to look him in the eye and believe that he was good (something he hadn't been able to do for a while after the incident).

"It's just hard," he admitted, turning his head just a little towards her. "My old man definitely wasn't the best. He was drunk almost all of the time, he drove away the rest of our family; but he had his moments. He shouldn't have died!"

"Do you miss him a lot, Juggie?"

"No!" He spat out defensively. "Why _would_ I?"

Betty continued to stroke his hand, letting it be quiet for a moment between them.

"I miss Hal sometimes," she admitted softly. "He was actually a good father when I was little. He'd take me to _Pop's_, he taught me how to fix a car- even though Alice said it wasn't an appropriate skill for a girl to have. I don't miss what he became; but I miss the good memories with him."

"I see what you're doing," Jughead said, finally looking at her and only sounding a little bit like he was scolding her. "And I'm sorry about your dad, Betts. But mine wasn't like yours."

"You said he had his moments," Betty reminded him.

"Yeah, he'd sober up for a few days every now and then. Doesn't make him father of the year or anything," Jughead bit out.

"It doesn't," Betty agreed. "But it doesn't mean that you can't miss him."

"I don't," Jughead insisted, but he didn't sound convinced.

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading! It was a little hard to find their voices again after taking such a long hiatus, but high hopes that next chapter will be better. Drop me a comment if you want and hopefully see you next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi, I'm back. This time with a timely update.**

**On Archive of our own (where this fic is cross-posted), I've added an estimated chapter count and wanted to share that with you guys over here. My estimated chapter count is 35, but that is definitely subject to change. I may get near the end and be nowhere close to 35 or I may get close to 35 and be nowhere near the end. So, very rough estimate of 35, but it's definitely subject to change.**

**Shoutout and thanks to all of you readers. It really just makes me so happy that there are so many that find this worth reading, you guys make my day!**

**And a special shout to all those who reviewed, thanks for leaving me your thoughts! Boris Yeltsin (I just want to take a moment to say that you've been a commenter really from the very beginning of my fanfiction writing career and I appreciate that), edge15684 (I hear the call for more fluff, hope you enjoy this chapter), and P'tites Bidouilles (I'll answer your review questions in the paragraph below since I think my answers will be a bit lengthy).**

**P'tites Bidouilles: First of all, honored that this story is the first Riverdale fic you've read. Most of the character backstories are mostly cannon-compliant (when backstories do differ from cannon, the different backstory is revealed - I don't know if I've stated it explicitly or not yet, but one thing that's different from cannon is that Jughead did not grow up with Betty and Veronica and Archie and the other northsiders). Will there be an Amy/Betty confrontation? I'm considering one towards the end of the story, as part of a kind of epilogue when Jughead's daughter is much older (like late high school or heading off to college) - so there may be one, but it won't be for at least a decade in story time. I'm glad that you're picking up on a few of the subtleties of Jughead's personality - he's definitely very similar to the Jughead of the show, but he's also a bit different on here. Thanks for reading and all your comments, glad you found my fic!**

_Quick Review (because I read so many fics that I can't remember what's happening in every single one - anyone else have that problem?): Jughead's a single dad (was married to Toni's sister), Canon consistensies in that Betty's father was the Black Hood, Clifford Blossom murdered Jason and framed FP for it, Polly had Jason's babies, Alice was a horrible mother. Jughead works at Andrew's Construction and Veronica sets him up with Betty. Many chapters later, they're a couple. His kids love her, it's adorable, etc._

_Last chapter: Jughead has a slip of the tongue, asking Betty to stay over. Betty says that they can't. She also tells him to stop treating her like she's made of glass when it comes to sex (he complies). Later, Cheryl visits Betty, asking her to ask to ask Jughead to stop ignoring Toni (remember the fall out from Toni's birthday party). Betty meets up with Jughead at the park (cus they're cute and sort of act like a family now) and tells him about Cheryl's visit. They _very_ briefly talk about their fathers and Betty says that she misses the good times she had with her father while Jughead insists that he doesn't miss his father at all._

**Enjoy, all!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

15

_***FLASHBACK***_

_The days were getting longer and, slowly, easier. He still sometimes felt the urge to run away, to escape, just like she had. But he knew that he had to stick with it. She would come back to him, and he had to be here when she did._

_His sponsor had told him how he needed to take some time to himself, to _make_ some time for himself. And that's exactly what he was doing this morning: walking around a dark home in the very early morning (early enough that the children had no chance of being up yet), hanging streamers and placing balloons._

_Without even meaning to, he thought back to Hannah's last birthday party: the small kitchen had been decently packed, filled with several children from daycare and their families. The trailer had been draped in pink. He had even gotten a Cinderella impersonator, who had not come cheap. But the one person who he had desperately wished would come wasn't there. As he had watched his daughter blow out the two candles on her cake, he had tried very hard to hold back tears, remembering the very same moment from when the cake had only held one candle._

_He shook his head, as if he could make the thoughts dissipate. He couldn't focus on his pain. If he did, he wouldn't be able to function. And he had to function. He had to show her how well he had handled everything while she was gone._

_As he pulled a little too hard on a streamer, it broke. And his brain obviously wanted to torture him, drawing up an analogy: That streamer was now as broken as his heart, ripped in half completely. But it was okay. She would come back and everything would be okay. He just had to hold on until then._

_***END FLASHBACK***_

* * *

Three days later, she received a simple _thank you_ text from him (what she didn't know was that he started to follow it with an _i lov-_ before deleting those words again), followed by an explanation that he had started talking to Toni again. She smiled. She hadn't told Jughead, but after their talk in the park and Jughead revealing that he was partly ignoring Toni because she had caused Betty's panic attack, she was worried that she would end up driving a wedge between the two that she would never forgive herself for. But now that Toni and Jughead were apparently talking again, she was relieved of her guilt. She was also simply happy for Jughead that he had Toni back in his life, of course.

She surprised him the next day, showing up at the construction site to bring him lunch.

"This is the best surprise ever," He remarked with a smile before leaving a kiss on her lips. "But you didn't have to."

"I wanted to see you. And I figured you wouldn't turn away food," she replied with a smirk.

"I wouldn't," he agreed, "but I'd be excited to see you even without the food."

"Come on," she said, blushing, "you need to eat."

As she walked slightly in front of him, he enjoyed the view of her backside, her pencil skirt showing off her body perfectly. He delivered a playful smack to her attractive bottom, causing her to let out a surprised yelp and to blush before giving him a sly smile, letting him know that she hadn't minded it at all.

"Mmm," he moaned when he had the first bite in his mouth. "This is incredible! Where did you get stuff this good?" He asked when he had finished chewing, having the good sense to remember his manners.

"Is it really?" Betty asked.

He nodded in answer, his mouth already full with another bite, seemingly proving his point.

"I made it," she said shyly.

Jughead's jaw literally dropped (after he had swallowed the food, luckily) at the reveal that the woman he was dating was even more incredible than he had originally thought.

"You made this?" he questioned, regaining control of his jaw.

She nodded timidly.

"Wow. Here I was thinking you couldn't get any more perfect." He watched as her face instantly hardened, her eyes becoming cold, her eyebrows furrowing, before her face relaxed slightly.

"I don't like that word," she said quietly, with an edge of anger.

"Wha- what word?" Jughead asked, confused and still thrown off by her rapid mood change.

"_Perfect_," she spat out. "I hate that word!" Her voice had risen, he could the beginnings of tears in his eyes, the re-furrowing of her brow.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he apologized. It wasn't the first time he had apologized while still being unsure of what exactly he had done (he had had a pregnant wife, after all - twice).

"I'm sorry," she apologized back, calming down. "I- I didn't mean to get upset."

"It's okay," he said, partly out habit. "Why- why do you hate it, though? That word?"

"Can we talk about it later?" Betty asked, growing quiet again. "I just want to enjoy my time with you right now."

"Okay," Jughead agreed, although he was still curious about why she hated that word so much. Why it had caused such an extreme reaction. She leaned into his side and he re-adjusted his arm to wrap around her. He was unable to resist the food for any longer, bringing another bite to his mouth and moaning a little at the wonderful taste.

He heard Betty chuckle slightly, the sound vibrating his own body a little.

"If this is the kind of reaction I get, maybe I'll cook for you more often," she remarked.

"If you cook for me again, I'll be appreciating more than just the food," he said with a wink, his hand drifting down to her hip, hoping he had made his intentions clear.

"I'd like that," Betty admitted, sending back a wink of her own.

Jughead had to actively try not to imagine exactly how he would _appreciate_ her.

"I like your skirt." It was the first thing that popped into his head (besides the thoughts he was trying to avoid while at work).

"Is it the skirt you like or my ass?" Betty teased, pressing her body closer to his.

"Your ass," Jughead admitted, realizing that this topic was not helping to distract him from his other thoughts. "Definitely your ass. And your legs."

"Good to know," Betty said, trying to avoid smirking. "And I suppose my legs will be one of the things you'll be _appreciating_ when I cook for you again?"

"More like what's between them," Jughead said directly into her ear, nipping it softly as he pulled away and she blushed.

He ended up spending several minutes in the bathrooms after Betty left, too worked up to go back to work without getting some relief.

* * *

_Betts: How about you let me do the cooking tomorrow. And you can show me just how much you appreciate it after the kids fall asleep_

_Juggie: i guess your cooking wont be the only thing ill be eating ;)_

True to his word, Betty's cooking was not the only thing he enjoyed eating that Friday night.

* * *

The following week, Betty found herself sitting in the seat next to Jughead's, Hannah talking excitedly in the row behind them, as Jughead drove towards the Riverdale carnival. The yearly carnival had always been one of Betty's favorite events as a child and she was shocked when she had found out that Jughead had gone for the first time the previous year. (And, though it had made sense, considering that he had had his children with him at the time, she was disappointed when she learned that the most exciting ride he had gone on was the carousel - she was definitely going to change that this year.)

She was the first one out when the car parked, her excitement making Jughead smile as he unbuckled car seats, reminding their occupants to hold his hand.

"I wanna hold Betty's hand," his daughter protested, drawing the blond woman's attention. She was beside the little girl, complying to her wish within seconds. A wide grin split Jughead's face, his mind once again trying to comprehend how he had gotten this lucky.

"Be-ey!" He heard his son yell from his car seat, voicing the same request as his sister. At some point, Betty had definitely become their favorite out of the two adults. Within seconds, his car seat was unbuckled too and he was eagerly grabbing Betty's remaining free hand. He watched as Betty smiled down at his children. It was sight, he realized, that he sort of wanted to see for the rest of his life. Her face turned up, towards his, and he realized that they were wearing matching smiles.

Too soon, the moment was broken, his impatient 4-year-old pulling his girlfriend forward, eager to enter the carnival. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder, in no particular hurry to catch up. They were less than 5 steps ahead of him and Betty was wearing a pair of tight shorts (which was another sight he wanted to see again). As if she knew exactly what he was thinking, Betty turned her head to look back at him, giving him a cheeky smile and swaying her hips just the slightest bit. He would really have to get her alone later.

* * *

"You should go on it," Betty said when she saw Jughead eyeing one of the roller coasters.

"What?" Jughead asked, his attention snapping back to her.

"You should go on that roller coaster," she explained.

"I'm afraid the munchkins won't quite be tall enough," he answered, letting out a barely-there chuckle.

"That's why I'll be taking them on the carousel again," she informed him.

"Why don't you ride it?" He suggested to her. "I'll take them on the carousel."

"I've ridden it a thousand times. I went here every year as a kid. And I know that you've been eyeing the roller coaster, so don't try to deny it."

Jughead stayed silent for a second, wanting to go along with her plan but also knowing that he couldn't ask her to watch his children - it was his responsibility. But a second of a silence was all Betty needed to confirm to her that Jughead _did_ want to agree with her.

"We'll meet you after, at the petting zoo," Betty told him, placing a kiss to his cheek and slowly walking away, giving him time to stop her if he was truly uncomfortable with it. Jughead watched as the trio walked away, wanting to go after her, to relieve her of the responsibility - but as he watched her, as he saw the happy spring in her step, he knew that it would be okay to not follow her. That she truly wanted to do this. For now, at least.

* * *

He felt like his heart was beating too fast. Like it was expanding too much, threatening to spill out of his body, to show everything that he was feeling. Betty with his children, one sitting in her lap and the other sitting beside her as they pet a baby foal, made those three words threaten to spill out. Those eight letters that he hadn't felt (not romantically, at least) since almost 3 years ago.

_I love you. I love you. I love you._ It bounced around in his head, threatening to find its way to his mouth. It felt so intense, so overwhelming, so all-consuming. _I love you. I love you. I love you._ He realized that the sight in front of him was one that he almost certainly wanted to see for the rest of his life; and it scared him a little.

"Are you coming in?" one of the petting zoo attendants asked, interrupting him from his inner musings. Multiple heads turned his way, including those of three of his favorite people.

"Y-yeah," he answered, the words still threatening to spill out as he focused on her brilliant smile.

* * *

There was no warning. Owen had been tired, cuddling in Betty's arms, when the contents of his stomach had suddenly ended up all over Betty's shirt, getting the little boy's clothes as well. Jughead had immediately started apologizing for his son's bout of sickness, taking the little boy out of her arms and holding him in his own while fishing out a package of wipes for Betty to clean off. Owen had started crying, his stomach hurting. His daughter was screaming about how gross it was while Betty was cleaning herself up as best she could, trying to not look too repulsed by the vomit. It was chaos.

But then it calmed slightly. Betty turned her attention to his son, using the wipes in an attempt to clean up what had gotten on his clothes and skin. The boy calmed slightly, sensing Betty's calmed energy even if his father was still radiating panic.

"I'm sorry," Jughead apologized again.

"It's okay," Betty told him. "Kids get sick."

Those two sentences flooded his body with relief. He knew that she hated the word, but she really was _perfect_ (although he wouldn't make the mistake of saying it to her again). For a moment, the only thing that he could manage to do was nod in agreement.

"Would- Do you- do you think you could- that you could keep an eye on Hannah for a couple minutes?" He nervously asked. "Just- just long enough that I can get him into a clean outfit. Then I'll take you straight home. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Betty responded. "And of course I can keep an eye on her. Do you want me to get her into her car seat?"

"No, no, it's fine. You don't have to do that," he responded. He didn't want to burden her any more than he already had.

"I know I don't have to, Jug. What I asked is if you wanted me to," she told him. "I don't mind at all," she added, almost like she was able to read his thoughts.

"You really don't mind?"

"I really don't," she confirmed.

"Thank you," he told her, trying to express just how deeply grateful he was, as he placed his car keys in her hand.

* * *

_***FLASHBACK***_

_"...Happy birthday to you!" The three adults finished singing, watching the little girl in front of them. Jughead quickly struck a match and lit the single candle atop the cake, waiting to see if his daughter would blow it out. When she didn't, he smiled as his wife moved to stand next to their daughter, blowing out that first candle for her. Her lips formed a perfect "O", reminding him of an activity they had partaken in the previous night, before her lips moved again to mimic his smile back to him._

_Jughead plucked the blown out candle from the cake, leaning forward to kiss his wife afterwards. She had told him no kissing- she didn't him to mess up her make up when there would surely be pictures taken- but he just couldn't resist. And by the way he could feel her smiling into the kiss, he knew that she wouldn't mind too much that he had disobeyed her order._

_"Get a room," Toni said playfully as their lips still lingered near each other. He smirked, connecting his lips once more with his wife's in a deeper kiss and pushing his body right against hers, before pulling away._

_"We _have_ a room," Jug replied to Toni. "A whole trailer, in fact. It's not our fault that you happen to be in it," he teased. He could hear Amy lightly chuckling behind him._

_"You're an ass," Toni told him, jokingly. "And I only came for the cake, you know."_

_"Jug's already only here for the cake. You'll have to find a different excuse," Amy joked._

_Toni's response was a middle finger in her sister's direction, accompanied by a slight smile._

_As Jughead pushed a knife through the cake, slicing off a first, small piece for his daughter, it was impossible for him to not reflect. He was happy. His daughter was one now! He almost couldn't believe that he'd been a father for a year now. That the little human sitting in her high chair, waiting for a slice of her birthday cake, had already been in the world for a year. Although he wished that his kitchen held more people (his daughter had _three_ living grandparents after all - was it too much to ask that just one of them could stop disowning their child long enough to meet their granddaughter?), he was truly blessed (which wasn't a phrase he used often, feeling that it was already over-used and had therefore lost its true meaning) to have the people who were here. He had his daughter, his brightest shining spot in life, his motivation to be better, the one to give him his most important title of "dad". He had his wife, his love, his co-pilot through the trying terrain. And, of course, his sister-in-law, the only friend who he still had ties with, their only outside support. Everyone in the room meant so much for him and he was grateful to have each and every one of them._

**_*END FLASHBACK*_**

* * *

**Hi, again. Thank you all so much for reading! I really hope you all enjoyed the chapter (also, who enjoyed Betty's surprise visit to Jughead at work - I didn't even know I was going to write that until I just started writing it) (and who's enjoying flirty, PDA Bughead). In case the flashbacks were unclear, the beginning flashback was Hannah's 3rd birthday (which was a couple months after Amy graduated and left for good - for an exact timeline, Amy's graduation was in May/June and Hannah's birthday is mid-November) and the end flashback was Hannah's 1st birthday (honestly, it sort of hurt to write him and Amy happy when I knew what was coming for them). (Also, if you want to catch a little subtlety I tried to leave, Jughead describes "I love you" as 8 letters he hasn't felt romantically since almost 3 years ago. 3 years ago in this story was a year before Amy's graduation when she left permanently - 3 years ago was also around 4 months before she left Jughead to stay with Toni until graduation.)**

**Anyway, drop me a comment and let me know what you think (any thoughts, questions, ideas, suggestions, requests - cannot promise that all requests will be fulfilled, but there's a good chance they will be) if you want to. I really do appreciate all the comments I receive.**

**Thank you again to all of you for reading, have a lovely day, and I'll see you next chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi, all! Another chapter! In case I haven't said it before, you are all the reason why I write. Love y'all! Very big thank you to all of you reading!**

**Special thank you and shout out to Boris Yeltsin for your comment last chapter!**

**Just a little note that this beginning flashback has, like, two line breaks (I know that's different from the usual since all the flashbacks I write are usually single scenes). I've marked the beginning and end of the flashback, so hopefully you won't get confused about where exactly the flashback ends. Hope that's not too confusing.**

**Also, Kevin lives in New York City instead of Riverdale (basically, I realized that I haven't mentioned Kevin at all in the story yet and decided to explain that away by making him not live in Riverdale).**

Quick_ Review (because I read so many fics that I can't remember what's happening in every single one - anyone else have that problem?): Jughead's a single dad (was married to Toni's sister), Canon consistensies in that Betty's father was the Black Hood, Clifford Blossom murdered Jason and framed FP for it, Polly had Jason's babies, Alice was a horrible mother. Jughead works at Andrew's Construction and Veronica sets him up with Betty. Many chapters later, they're a couple. His kids love her, it's adorable, etc._

_Last chapter: Betty surprises Jughead at work with lunch. They're flirty and cute (obviously). Betty, Jughead, and the kids go to a carnival together. Betty convinces Jughead to let her watch the kids for a little bit. Jughead realizes that he loves Betty (but he hasn't said it yet)._

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

16

_*FLASHBACK*_

_Jughead turned the radio up louder, singing along to the jolly tunes. He had just braved a mall full of crowds, he had walked into at least a dozen crowded toy stores. But he had found the doll that Hannah wanted. The very last one, in fact, in the very last toy store in the mall. And if a Christmas miracle like that could happen, there was no reason why his Christmas wish wouldn't come true: Amy would come home for Christmas._

* * *

_The tree was decorated to its finest, the presents underneath it perfectly wrapped. There were beautifully decorated cookies (which had taken three tries, but would be totally worth it when Amy saw them), just waiting to be eaten; and, completely clean shaven and in a perfectly ironed Christmas sweater (which he had had to have ironed professionally, since he realized that neither he nor Toni actually knew how to do it right), he looked nothing like a man who had hit rock bottom half a year previous._

_When the doorbell rang and he only saw Toni on the other end of the door, he was disappointed. But if there was one thing he had learned, it was to have patience. He might have to wait until the afternoon for his wish. But that was fine. He had already waited 7 months for her to come back, what was a couple extra hours?_

_"Nice sweater," Toni had complimented, completely sincere, before seeing the two little ones behind him. "And you dressed them up to match you. Cute."_

_The children had greeted their aunt, all the while focusing on the presents in their aunt's hands._

_As the four of them sat in the living room, the children opening their presents the second they were placed in front of them, Toni noticed how festive the trailer looked._

_"Looks like someone really found the Christmas spirit this year."_

_"That's because this year's special," Jughead explained. "Amy's coming back."_

_"She is?" Toni asked, shocked. She hadn't heard anything from her sister since she had left Riverdale. "When?"_

_"Dunno," Jughead shrugged. "Maybe now, maybe not till the afternoon."_

_"But she's coming today?" Toni questioned, slightly excited at the thought of seeing her sister again. "When did she tell you about it?"_

_"She didn't," Jughead answered. "When I was Christmas shopping, I found the doll Hannah wanted. And it was the last one. At the last store in the mall!" When he saw the confused look on Toni's face, he continued. Even his annoyance at how long it was taking her to get it couldn't dampen his excitement. "It was a sign!"_

_"A- a sign?" Toni questioned._

_"Yes! My Christmas wish was for her to come back _now_. And I know that Christmas wishes don't come true, but finding that doll was a sign that mine would: If a Christmas miracle like that can happen, then that means that Christmas wishes can come true!"_

_Finished speaking, he noticed how Toni had leaned away from his slightly, how her eyes were widened her face skeptical._

_"You don't believe me," he realized. "But that's alright. You'll see. She's gonna walk in here and you'll see that I was right."_

_Toni just nodded, still looking skeptical._

* * *

_As morning changed into afternoon and afternoon grew into evening, Jughead's mood dropped as the doorway still stood empty. He had opened the door about a thousand times, thinking that maybe his wife was just outside, waiting to come in. But she never was. But there was still time. It was still Christmas, so there was still time. The children fell asleep on the living room floor, tired from a day of grand excitement. Jughead took a picture. He'd show it to Amy when she came, how cute their children were. He changed them into pajamas and put them in their beds, carefully hanging up their outfits so he could show them to their mother tomorrow. So he could show her how dressed up they'd gotten, just for her._

_As the clock struck midnight, he despaired for a moment before realizing that maybe he just had to wait a little longer. He just needed a little more patience._

_By 2am, the cookies were broken messes, some of the frosting sticking to the wall where he had thrown them. The Christmas tree was halfway out the open door, where he had left it when he had given out and decided to sit on the porch and smoke the secret pack of cigarettes he had for when he _really_ needed to distract himself from wanting a drink. (Honestly, though, they weren't helping. If it hadn't meant leaving his children all by themselves, he would've been at the nearest bar already.)_

_She wasn't coming back today. Maybe not even this year._

But_, he thought, a glimmer of hope growing as the embers of his last cigarette died, _there's always next year. She'll come back next year.

_*END*_

* * *

Betty could feel Jughead's hand grip tighter around her own as they approached Cheryl's door. Betty gave his hand a little squeeze in response, telling him that everything was going to be fine, before raising the knocker and letting it fall. Jughead fixated on the way that the metal ring connected with the wood, the sound that reverberated through the air around them, and the way the metal ring seemed to fly away from the door before it repeated its routine all over again.

The routine did not have many chances to repeat before the door was opened by a red-headed woman. Jughead knew she must be Cheryl, vaguely recognizing her from Toni's party.

"Cousin, Jughead," Cheryl greeted, giving a small smile. "Come in." "TT, they're here," Cheryl called, quickly turning her head towards the side of house before leading Betty and Jughead further inside of it. She had just finished shutting the door when Toni appeared, having come from one of the other rooms.

"Jug," she greeted warmly, yet semi-awkwardly.

"Hey, T," he greeted her back, the same amount of awkwardness in his voice.

There was an awkward silence that hung in the air for a moment before it was broken by Cheryl.

"TT, this is cousin Betty. And cousin, this is my darling TT," Cheryl introduced.

"Nice to meet you," Betty responded reflexively.

"You too," Toni answered, also somewhat reflexively.

"Shall we move to the sitting room?" Cheryl broke the silence again. They knew that although it was phrased like a question, it was more of a command as they followed the Blossom woman.

"She's intimidating," Jughead whispered to Betty.

"You'll get used to it," Betty whispered back, placing a kiss on his cheek and she pulled away.

As they entered the living room, the first sight that drew his attention was the wine bottle sitting on the table, surrounded by 3 wine goblets and 1 normal glass (which was definitely weird - he barely knew Cheryl, but she didn't seem the type to mis-match glasses). He could already tell that once Cheryl found out he wasn't going to drink, he'd be forced to tell her why. And re-telling the story of his failures as a father to a woman who was basically a stranger to him wasn't something that he wanted to do.

"Do you want a cola or something, Jug?" Toni asked, relieving his anxiety slightly as Cheryl uncorked the wine and began to pour into the goblets.

"Sure," he responded as he watched the red liquid pour out of the bottle. If Cheryl found it weird that Toni was offering him a different drink, she didn't show it. Before Cheryl had finished filling the second glass, Toni was back from the kitchen, cracking open the can in her hand and pouring it into the 1 normal glass. And that was when Jughead began to consider the possibility that Cheryl knew. When Cheryl finished filling the wine goblets and immediately handed them, deliberately skipping Jughead, without even batting an eye, he was almost certain that she knew.

* * *

Jughead felt drunk. Not on wine like the others, but on happiness. He was drunk on happiness. Or maybe it was Betty. Or both. He was drunk on Betty and happiness, on the feeling of her body next to his, on hearing her laugh as Cheryl re-counted old stories... he was even a little drunk on the fact that he was sort of getting along with Cheryl. Betty was still just buzzed, only starting her second glass while Toni and Cheryl were on their fourth and fifth, respectively. She kept looking at him, an expression on her face that he couldn't quite interpret; but when he had asked her what was wrong, she had smiled and told him that everything was fine.

By the end of the night, Betty had finished two glasses of wine, Cheryl had told Jughead that her "daddykins was a detestable pile of filth", and Toni had told Betty how glad she was that she made Jughead so happy (he had found it adorable how Betty had blushed). Betty leaned against him slightly as they walked out to his car. He opened her door for her, receiving an un-expected kiss on the cheek and soft thank you from Betty. After climbing into the car, he sat still for a moment, wondering if it would be a good idea to talk about the evening or if he should just keep his mouth shut about it.

"Everything alright, Jug?" Her voice cut through the silence

"It's f-" he cut himself off. He didn't want to tell her the same lie that he was pretty sure she had told him earlier. "Earlier, I asked you what was wrong, and you said that everything was fine. And I may be a little dense sometimes, but I know that 'fine' doesn't actually mean 'fine'. I know that something's wrong Betty, so please just tell me."

There was silence in the car, Jughead couldn't tell how long it dragged on for, but he was about to give up on getting Betty to tell him what was wrong when she finally spoke.

"Nothing's wrong Jughead," she began.

"Bullshit," he spat out, angry that she wouldn't tell him.

"Let me finish," she told him, a small bit of anger seeping into her tone before it grew soft again. "Nothing's wrong, I was just a little worried."

"About what?" Jughead asked, when her pause became more than a couple seconds long.

"I should've told Cheryl to put the wine away," she responded, not quite answering his question. "I'm sorry, Jug. I know that you worked hard to get sober. And that your sobriety is important to you. And I know that you can look out for yourself, but I should've looked out for you too. I should've looked out for you better. I shouldn't have even finished that first glass, let alone start the second."  
"You- You were worried about me? And my sobriety?" He asked, purely in awe of her. Her limited alcohol consumption made much more sense to him now, and he wondered again how he had gotten lucky enough to be with someone like her.

"It's not that I don't trust you," Betty back-pedaled, worry that she had crossed a line. "I do trust you-"

Jughead couldn't help it as the words escaped his mouth.

"I love you, Betty Cooper."

He watched as Betty's mouth froze, her words stopping as she processed his.

"Jughead Jones," her miniscule pause felt like an eternity, Jughead's mind going through a million possibilities of what she might say next, "I love you." And just like that, all the scenarios vanished. She loved him! She loved him back!

He leaned towards her, about to kiss her, when she stopped him.

"I just had wine, Jug. I'm certain my mouth still tastes like it."

"I love you," he said again, smiling as he placed a quick peck on her closed lips. "But for the record, I think I can handle kissing you after you've had wine. And I can handle everyone else drinking."

She leaned forward, mouth still closed, giving him a chaste kiss.

"I love you, Jug."

* * *

"He told you he loves you?" Kevin squealed, he and Veronica both nearly spitting their drinks out at Betty's news.

"Yes," Betty answered, casually taking a sip of his drink.

"How did he say it?" Kevin questioned, on the edge of his seat. "Was he soft and gentle? Or strong and powerful? Did he say like he needed you to know it right that moment or he would die?"

"Calm down, Kev," Betty said lightly.

"Sorry. Just living vicariously through your love life since mine is non-existent," Kevin tried to joke, but anyone could hear the tinge of sadness in his voice.

"You're just still getting over Moose," Veronica comforted him. "But all you need is some rebound sex- which you'll have no trouble getting, by the way. You're a total 10 right now and I've also seen at least two guys here eyeing you since we came in- and a little confidence boost and when you go back to New York, you'll have your choice of any man there. Right, B?"

"Yeah, Kev," Betty agreed. "You just have to get back out there."

"I will," Kevin agreed. "But first, we're going to finish talking about Mr. tall, dark, and handsome. And then Ronnie is going to point out the two gentlemen she saw eyeing me earlier. So, Betty, how did he say it?"

"Fast, I guess," Betty offered, "And tripping over the words a little bit. Like he couldn't say it fast enough."

"Mhmm," Kevin nodded, leaning closer. "And what happened next? Did you make out? Did you do _more_? I will _die_ if you tell me you jumped his bones."

"We kissed," she admitted. "But he's staying sober and I just had wine, so he took me back to my apartment and I brushed my teeth and then we... did some _things_... On the kitchen counter," She added the very last part in a whisper, blushing deeply and looking down.

"Betty Cooper," Kevin gasped, pretending to be scandalized. "We've finally gotten to her, haven't we, V?"

Veronica laughed in response, mumbling something about christening her own kitchen counter.

"But seriously, B, we need details," Kevin demanded. "_Who_ did _what_ to _who_?"

"I thought you hated hearing about straight sex," Betty responded, trying to get of answering the un-comfortable question.

"You know I make an exception for my girls."

"Just _things_," Betty responded, hoping that Kevin would drop his line of questioning.

"Okay," Kevin answered, knowing when to back off before he turned to Veronica. "I believe that you agreed to point out my potential lays for the night? It would be a crime not to take advantage of my one night in Riverdale."

* * *

Dinner with the Joneses seemed extra sweet to Betty that night. Maybe it was the fact that she knew that the man next to her loved her. Or maybe the domestic feel of it all was getting to her more than usual. Maybe it was how Owen had wanted snuggles with her and Betty could tell that Jughead had loved seeing her like that.

His voice interrupted her thoughts, bringing her mind back to the soft bed they were laying on, his warm chest she rested her head on like a pillow, and his strong arms wrapped around her.

"I was thinking," he said softly as he continued to play with her hair with one hand, "that maybe I could talk to the kids about you staying over next week. If you would want to stay over, that is."

"Of course I'd want to," she told him, smiling at his suggestion. "Do you think they'll agree to it?"

He almost laughed at her question.

"They love you, Betty! I have no doubt that they'll be overwhelmingly _for_ the idea. Have I told you that Hannah asked me to teach her how to spell your name?"

"She did?" Betty questioned, sitting up.

"Yeah," Jughead nodded, moving to match her new position. "I'm not supposed to tell you, but she's apparently working on a very special drawing for you. She said she needed to know how to spell your name so that everyone would know it was for you."

Betty couldn't help the few tears that sprung from her eyes. moved by the little girls sweetness.

"Upset or happy?" Jughead asked, thinking he already knew that answer, but worried that he was wrong and had somehow upset her with his story.

"Happy," Betty answered, wiping her eyes.

* * *

_*FLASHBACK*_

_"Can you say, 'Happy first day of school, Mama?'" Jughead cooed at his daughter, watching her happy face as he lightly bounced her._

_She leaned, trying to escape her father's grasp as she reached out for her mama. She was not appeased, her father continuing to hold her securely in his arms while her mother made no move to put out her arms to grab her._

_"Bye, baby," her mother said affectionately, leaning close the little girl and leaving a kiss on her soft forehead. Her little hands reached out, trying to grab for her mother, to keep her with her. She managed to grab an earring, pulling on it as her mother tried to pull away._

_"Ow! Ow! Jughead, help," her mother exclaimed, feeling the pull on her earlobe. The girl's father was quickly prying her hand open, her mother leaning away as soon as her hand was fully opened and the earring free from her little grasp._

_Hannah cried as her mother whispered an apology but stated that she had to go, blowing her daughter a kiss before walking out the door. Her father held her for a couple minutes, attempting to calm her down before putting her in a crib and moving to his own bed, hoping to get a nap in before his work shift started._

_*END*_

* * *

**Hi again, thanks again for reading! I hope I didn't break anyone too much with that first flashback (my apologies if I did). Betty and Jughead _finally_ said "I love you" (yay)! And I'm excited to write Betty staying over in the next chapter (assuming that I don't suddenly think of something else that ends up happening before that and taking up a whole chapter) - I've been wanting to write it for the last few chapters, but felt like that would be moving too fast for Jughead, so it's delayed but it's finally happening.**

**Anyways, please drop me a review if you'd like to (I know sometimes it feels awkward cus you're like "what do I say?" - if that's you, you can really say anything - theories, requests for things to happen, how realistic you found the chapter and if you think the characters are being written consistently, other critiques - really your choice, just throwing out ideas). So, if you'd like to, I love reading those comments. If not, still appreciate the reads (this website will actually show you stats of how many people have visited your works, and it's pretty satisfying to look at).**

**Hope to see you all in the next chapter! Thanks!**


	17. Not a Chapter

NOT A CHAPTER (SORRY)

So, I really hate when people do this (posting a non-chapter update as a chapter), but I still don't have the next chapter written and wanted to give you all an update before that:

I'm still planning to continue this story - I'm not abandoning it or putting it on hiatus or anything. It's taking me forever to update because my personal life has gotten really busy this summer, so that's taking time away from this. As well, I recently got into Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as ATLA), so there are some fics there are begging to be written and have been distracting me from this one - deepest apologies.

When will I next update this fic? I'm sorry, but I don't actually know. I wanna say definitely by the end of August, but no promises.

Anyway, big thank you to all of you who keep coming back and reading, despite my infrequent updates. Much love to all of you!


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